Harmony Is Added In (Lovino Style)
by yellow blaze
Summary: HumanAU Part 3 of Life with Lyrics series! Lovino faces his senior year with a healthy dose of skepticism due to some of the class names he found on his schedule list. Having an over-emotional boyfriend still isn't helping, and neither does losing his temper. Off to a great start. Rated T for language. Any romance is fluff.
1. Someone so forgetful

OKAY PEOPLE. This is the LAST one. Seriously now. =_= (most) Every single review I read was something along the lines of "that wasn't seriously the end. What happened with Gilbert?" Or something along those lines. SO. Here we go. One more time. I will do my best to not almost-kill anyone this time around. *cough cough*

_Narrator (also known as Author): Much like how the last one began with the start of the junior year, we fast-forward to the senior year. Last year was getting a bit chaotic to add anything to. I will try to do better with teachers this time around. XD Allistor and Reilly, for those wondering, are no longer in high school (obviously, since they were older than Arthur). They are, however, still living at home, so you will see them now and then. :) The last story ended around the end of November, so we're about eight months into the future. Anything that happened last year that might not have been covered (more than likely due to me forgetting to add it) will be added as a memory, which you will see in text just like this Narrator comment. I'll try not to do an entire chapter in italics again though. That was a little hard on the eyes. =.= Oh and also, as with Life with Lyrics, this has four parts to it. :) I enjoyed writing those more than I enjoyed writing the single one. And this way I can focus more on each individual couple, yes? :) Anyone with a question about something that may have happened in either of the fanfics preceding this one is free to ask in a review! Also, keep in mind that if you leave a review as Anonymous, I cannot respond to you no matter how many questions you ask. :)_

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**Adding Harmony to the Music and Lyrics of Life** (A.N: That title is just getting longer)

Lovino lay with his feet up on the armrest of the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Less than twenty-four hours until school started up again. "I don't wanna go baaaack…" Lovino covered his eyes with an arm and let out a heavy sigh.

"What on earth is taking Roma so long?"

Lovino lifted his arm up to send a half-glare at his mother, "There's probably a line at the store like there is every Sunday!"

Amelia made a face and turned to stare at her husband, both hands on her hips, "You just had to go and forget to add the sauce to the grocery list, didn't you?"

"So I'm a little forgetful! How was I supposed to know we were out anyway? You're the one who cooks!" Alexander backfired.

Lovino rolled his eyes and let his gaze stray to the opened envelope laying on the coffee table. He hadn't seen anyone online to compare schedules to last night (only Allistor was online for some reason, considering it was late at night). "Should I wander to the store and look for him?" Lovino looked back towards his parents again.

"If he takes any longer, your dad can go to the store." Amelia smiled cheerfully.

"Why is it my fault?" Alexander snapped.

"I can go…I don't give a crap." Lovino rolled off the couch, stretching his legs out, "Gah. Where is Feliciano anyway?"

"Something about going to see a friend?" Amelia blinked, "I'm not sure who he said before he went out the door. He was talking too fast."

'_Ludwig. No doubt.'_ Lovino shook his head slightly and stood up. To go upstairs and see if someone was online or go to the store and find Grandpa…

"Alexander! Would you at least call dad?" Amelia called from the kitchen.

"He's probably in line!" Alexander yelled back (given as he was in the living room, yelling probably wasn't necessary).

"CALL HIM ANYWAY!" Amelia snapped.

Lovino pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial for Roma before shooting a silent glare at both adults in the house.

"Grandpa, mom and dad want to know where you're at." Lovino tilted his head, listening to his grandfather for a moment before covering the mouthpiece of the phone, "He's standing in line, still!"

"See?" Alexander called.

"Like it was that much of a hardship for you to pick up the phone and call!" Amelia retorted.

"…" Lovino let out a loud sigh, "They're arguing a bit, yeah. Actually that's what the argument was about. They were trying to figure out who was at fault for forgetting in the first place." Lovino shook his head while heading for the stairs, "I'm going to go upstairs now, good luck when you get home."

Lovino looked at the phone in shock, "I wouldn't recommend throwing it! The jar is glass!" There was only laughter from the other end, "Grandpaaaaaaaaa…" Lovino kicked open his bedroom door, "Don't throw anything please…"

Hanging up the phone after some (not at all reassuring) comment made that Roma had just been joking, Lovino collapsed on his bed, completely forgetting about getting on the computer. "Oh my god." He rolled over and pressed the pillow into his face. "These people...why can't they just get along…"

The question was pretty much answered on its own, as it had been more of Lovino's parents' idea for Roma to move in with them rather than a decision Roma had made (and the older male made it quite clear at some times that he did _not_ want to be there on a daily basis).

Lovino moved the pillow so he was hugging it to his chest instead and stared at the ceiling of his darkened bedroom. The sound of his mother in the kitchen could still be heard through his closed bedroom door, as well as the muttering of his father in the room below him. "I don't see how they forget at least one thing every damn week. I swear they're doing it on purpose." Lovino sat up and almost threw his phone across the room when it went off.

Answering without looking at the caller ID (he was assuming it was his grandfather crying about being hung up on), "There was no reason to stay on the damn phone! As long as you don't throw a jar when you get home, I don't care!"

"_Loviiiii…."_ Well that voice was most certainly _not_ his grandpa.

"Uh, sorry. Thought you were someone else." Lovino's face turned red as he looked at the caller ID for a minute just to verify who he was talking to.

"_Lovi! Don't you look at your cell phone before you answer iiiiitttt?"_

"Would you stop crying long enough to say why?!" Lovino yelled into his phone, "You're impossible!"

"_You're not on the computer."_

"…Are you seriously crying because I'm not answering my instant messages?" Lovino gaped at the phone in disbelief as if Antonio could see him through it, "I was in the middle of something!"

"_Yeah. I realized that when you said something about throwing a jar."_

"That wasn't directed at you." Lovino blushed again and threw the pillow he had been hugging at his dad when the door opened, "Go away!"

"Who are you talking to?" Alexander blinked, not fazed by the pillow (though he did manage to knock it away before it hit him).

"Not grandpa." Lovino said flatly, "Now shoo." He waved a hand at his dad and redirected his attention to the phone, "Damn it! Stop crying already! You can't just be crying because I'm not on the computer!"

"_My schedule…"_

Lovino rolled his eyes and turned on the computer, "Fine. I'm turning it on, happy? Now what the heck is wrong with your schedule?"

"_It's crap."_

Lovino hit his head on the top of his desk with a growl of frustration, "That tells me nothing. I barely even looked at mine."

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**GrumpyLovino: I'M NOT READING ALL THIS.**

**LovisAntonio: What's with the usernaaame? T_T**

**GrumpyLovino: Oh that was from last night. Nothing.**

**HermitArthur: Oh that's nice. Allistor changed my name again.**

**LovisAntonio: Hiiiiii~ What are your classes? Mine are awful…**

**GrumpyLovino: Would you stop saying that. They can't be that bad.**

**HermitArthur: …Um…first class appears to be Ancient Times. That's just history right?**

**GrumpyLovino: What's with the damn names? Life prep? That's a class?**

**LovisAntonio: Oh hey, Cruz has that class first too! :D**

**AnnoyedAs****Cruz has signed on!**

**GrumpyLovino: …**

**HermitArthur: Well then.**

**AnnoyedAs****Cruz: What the **** is with these ******* classes?**

**LovisAntonio: T_T**

**GrumpyLovino: Oi. Did you two have an argument or something?**

**AnnoyedAs****Cruz: No.**

**LovisAntonio: T_T Cousins should totally hug.**

**AnnoyedAs****Cruz: NO.**

**HermitArthur: Ah…**

**GrumpyLovino: Geez…**

**FoulMouthedRedHead: HILARIOUS ARTHUR.**

**HermitArthur: :) Serves you right. Stop taking my computer and changing my screenname.**

**LovisAntonio: Can't tell which one it is though…**

**SlightlyAnnoyedCruz: More than likely the younger of the two.**

**HermitArthur: You would be correct.**

**Allistor: **** brat.**

**HermitArthur: =_=**

**LovisAntonio: Oh so hey, Lovi, what happened last night that you changed your username?**

**Lovino: Nothing.**

**SlightlyAnnoyedCruz: it changed.**

**HermitArthur: Yeah.**

**Allistor: =_=**

**LovisAntonio: :I Tell me~**

**Lovino: It was nothing!**

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This was definitely the shortest chapter. Sorry!


	2. It's Sunday

So even though I am looking for some fanfics to satisfy my craving and not finding anything in the correct tags…I will do my best to put out an update. =w=

(Chapter was edited 4/14)

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Lovino pushed himself away from the computer upon hearing the front door slam downstairs. "That would be grandpa…" Pausing only to type a short 'brb' into the chatroom, Lovino exited the room and peered down the stairwell, watching the conversation between Roma and his mother from a safe distance.

Waiting for a few minutes to insure that there was going to be nothing flying towards the other room, Lovino went back into his bedroom, barely glancing at anything that was said in his absence.

**Lovino: Okay. Just making sure chaos wasn't breaking loose downstairs.**

**LovisAntonio: Chaos?**

**AnnoyedCruz: This is crap.**

**LovisAntonio: Deal with it. I'm totally sitting next to you, I can hear you cursing at me. D:**

**HermitArthur: …**

**Lovino: Suddenly it occurs to me why he's annoyed.**

**LovisAntonio: T_T**

**AnnoyedCruz: Why did they pick TODAY to re-do the damn paint in the bedroom?!**

**HermitArthur: Even if they had picked some other day, you would still have to sit in the same room…**

**LovisAntonio: Am I that annoying…**

**Lovino: oi. Don't start crying again. You're not annoying.**

**AnnoyedCruz: They could have done it tomorrow. When we're in SCHOOL.**

**HermitArthur: Speaking of that...we were on the subject of classes earlier. What's the second class?**

Lovino let out a loud groan. Why did that unpleasant reminder have to come up? Granted it would probably take Antonio's mind off the surly person sitting next to him (come to think of it, why was Cruz still living at his house anyway?). He was about to ask but the conversation had already been directed to school, and Lovino was picking up a vibe from somewhere that was saying to _not_ ask.

"I'll just ask tomorrow I guess…" Lovino sighed and picked up his schedule from where it had fallen on the floor.

"If you don't understand why it takes so long, then YOU GO PICK IT UP NEXT TIME!"

Lovino stared at the wall when a loud crash sounded from the room below him. Yup. There went the tempers. Right on time. Actually it was about five minutes later than usual.

**Lovino: Brb again. It's five after four and the clock struck a little late.**

Lovino got up and left the room, wandering down the stairs to see Roma and Alexander glaring at each other with Amelia floating back and forth trying to calm them both down. "…Maybe I should just go to the store next time…"

His gaze settled on a broken jar laying on the floor near where Alexander was standing, definitely the source of crashing sound he had heard, fortunately it looked like it wasn't the jar of sauce that Roma had been sent to buy in the first place (saving someone from running out to the store to prevent a huge catastrophe).

Lovino looked back and forth between Roma and Alexander, debating whether or not to intervene when Feliciano came running through the front door (literally running). "What the heck is your hurry?" He glared at his younger twin.

"Ludwig invited me out for supper~" Feliciano twirled in a circle next to Lovino before running up the stairs, "I gotta put on a different shirt first though!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, "Like it really matters what you're wearing!" The comment went unanswered, as Feliciano's door had already shut by that point, but at least the entrance (and exit) had stopped any further arguments.

Lovino watched as Roma just stalked by him, disappearing into the separate bedroom that was on the first floor (rather it was the only bedroom on the first floor). _'It's just gonna be one of those nights.'_ Lovino shook his head with a sigh and sent a half-glare at his dad before going upstairs. Maybe he could talk to his grandpa on the computer…

.

**Lovino (to Roma): What the heck was that? You said you weren't gonna throw anything!**

**Roma: I said I wasn't going to throw the sauce jar.**

**Lovino: :I**

**Roma: T_T He's meeeean.**

**Lovino: *large sigh* So send him next time he forgets something! It's his own fault!**

**Roma: I was trying to be nice…**

**Lovino: I know that.**

Lovino flipped back to the chatroom and winced at the number of messages he had missed. Only thing he could see worth noticing was that Antonio was crying. Again. What the heck.

**Lovino (to chatroom): What? Why is he crying again? Oh by the way I have Ancient Times second.**

**HermitArthur: Near as I can tell, he got denied a hug.**

**Lovino: …**

**AnnoyedCruz: That should not be new to you. I do not hug people.**

**LovisAntonio: T_T**

**Lovino: …You hug Matthew…**

**AnnoyedCruz: Hilarious. And I heard that.**

**LovisAntonio: Couldn't hold in the laugh on that one.**

**Lovino: I succeeded in my attempt then.**

**HermitArthur: XD**

Of course it would have been the hug thing again. If there was a therapy for being addicted to hugs, Antonio definitely needed it. Lovino buried his face in his hands and sighed. This was definitely going to be one of those nights, and by the looks of it, tomorrow wasn't looking too good either.

**Lovino (to Roma): Maybe I'll have a drink with supper…**

**Roma: don't do that.**

**Lovino: Why not? You drink all the time :I**

**Roma: :I It's not ALL the time. Just to annoy your dad mostly. :)**

**Lovino: …see previous comment.**

**Roma: D: It's not all the time~**

**Lovino: Five days out of the week.**

**Roma: still not all the time.**

**Lovino: Whatever. I still want a drink.**

**Roma: No having a hangover on your first day of school~ and you're not even of age!**

**Lovino: Didn't stop me in the freshman year obviously.**

**Roma: Obviously. And don't bring that up. Barely escaped that table.**

**Lovino: :P Like your "not taking a lecture from my son" was really going to get a retort.**

**Roma: If his temper had boiled over it would have.**

**Lovino: I'm not betting against that.**

**Roma: :)**

Lovino glanced back towards the chatroom again, half-wishing Roma would just hop in there, but then again, the conversation really wasn't one to have with more than one set of ears listening. Not that he didn't trust them or anything, but sometimes more was said than absolutely necessary (especially in Antonio's case).

**Lovino (to chatroom): Any plans for the schoolyear?**

**AnnoyedCruz: To get through it alive.**

**LovisAntonio: One day at a time…**

**HermitArthur: Same as last year.**

**Lovino: Oh brilliant. These plans sound like real winners.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Don't be a smart*****

**LovisAntonio: I didn't really have a plan last year…**

**HermitArthur: I did. And I didn't complete a single thing.**

**Lovino: Procrastination.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Seems to be a habit with everyone.**

**Lovino: and obviously you're not holding out much hope with the teachers.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Never do.**

**LovisAntonio: I wonder what that assembly is about… that should be interesting at least.**

**HermitArthur: I'm not too sure about interesting… depends if they show a video or not.**

**Lovino: I hope not. Last year's video was bad enough.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Wasn't in it, thought it was hilarious.**

**LovisAntonio: Such a loud lecture…**

**Lovino: Grandpa spared me from having to listen to one…**

**HermitArthur: It must be nice to live with someone who understands…**

**Lovino: …no. It's really not.**

**AnnoyedCruz: ._.**

**LovisAntonio: :D …**

**Lovino: I think it's making things worse actually. He's as bad as I am.**

**HermitArthur: Ah…yes well. He is a counselor. He's allowed to lose his temper I suppose.**

**Lovino: No comment.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Is this the weekly thing?**

**LovisAntonio: D: Tell Roma to cheer up~**

**Lovino: Oh sure. Soon as he comes out of his room.**

**LovisAntonio: D:**

**HermitArthur: …**

**AnnoyedCruz: when is supper going to be ready anyway?**

**LovisAntonio: Soon as mom stops the fire alarm.**

**Lovino: ._. I keep forgetting that's a normal thing at your house.**

**HermitArthur: I'm amazed.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Someone else in this house seriously needs to learn how to cook…**

**LovisAntonio: :D I can cook!**

**AnnoyedCruz: …one recipe does not count as being able to cook.**

**Lovino: Amazed about what? And at least he can cook one thing without burning it.**

**HermitArthur: there was no comment about coming out of one's room from the redhead.**

**Lovino: Oh that is amazing.**

**AnnoyedCruz: I suppose. One night a week without hearing the smoke alarm.**

**LovisAntonio: D: I can cook it more than one night…**

**AnnoyedCruz: That would get really repetitive. I don't think I could eat the same thing every night.**

**Lovino: There's a cooking class apparently. Feliciano was saying Ludwig had Cooking 101…**

**HermitArthur: that's a remedial cooking class. For people who failed cooking last year.**

**AnnoyedCruz: well gee. I wonder why he failed.**

**LovisAntonio: It was totally the stove's fault. They even said it had a clogged line.**

**Lovino: Yeah, like they're going to blame students for almost burning down the school by cooking.**

**HermitArthur: XD**

**LovisAntonio: I believe in their innocence~**

**AnnoyedCruz: You go right ahead and do that.**

**HermitArthur: I'm a little amazed I'm not in that class… I suppose I did succeed in one thing last year.**

**Lovino: good for you.**

**LovisAntonio: :D Yay~**

**AnnoyedCruz: What, in cooking?**

**Lovino: Yeah. That was one of three he wanted to improve on last year.**

**LovisAntonio: Oh that's good. At least he managed one out of three.**

**Lovino: …considering what the other two were, I suppose it was good.**

**AnnoyedCruz: Other two?**

**Lovino: Yeah, I don't think I should say what they were though. Lest someone repeat it.**

**LovisAntonio: The room might have ninjas in hiding…**

**AnnoyedCruz: …I don't think he was referring to people with status set to hidden.**

**HermitArthur: Apparently Allistor isn't at the computer.**

**Lovino: that would be why there was no comment then**

**AnnoyedCruz: You actually went to check…**

**HermitArthur: I was curious.**

**LovisAntonio: XD Oh hey, supper's ready! Byeeeee!**

**AnnoyedCruz: Burnt supper. Yum.**

**LovisAntonio has signed off!**

**AnnoyedCruz has signed off!**

**Lovino: He sounds so thrilled.**

**HermitArthur: He does.**

**Roma: Who would be thrilled about that?**

**Lovino: YOU WERE IN HERE THE WHOLE TIME.**

**Roma: Of course I was. XD I was just hidden.**

**HermitArthur: …well then. Hello.**

**Lovino: what was the point of talking in the other window then?! Idiot!**

**Roma: ;D It's okay Lovi~ Hiiiii Arthur~**

**HermitArthur: :) So now it's three… that I know of.**

**Roma: Who's FoulMouthedRedHead?**

**Lovino: Allistor**

**Roma: XD**

**HermitArthur: He changed mine, I changed his.**

**FoulMouthedRedHead has signed off!**

**Roma: Oh**

**Lovino: He was back**

**HermitArthur: Well he never went by the room. I think the computer went into sleep mode.**

**Roma: Any hidden people in here~**

**Lovino: …who would answer that?**

**GilbertofAwesome: someone who didn't want Vati finding out he was slacking on schoolwork.**

**Lovino: Oh for…**

**Roma: XD**

**HermitArthur: Oh hello! How is that going?**

**GilbertofAwesome: I wanna take a nap. T_T**

**Roma: D:**

**Lovino: that bad.**

**GilbertofAwesome: Is it some kind of stupid rule that all textbooks have to use insanely small print?**

**HermitArthur: Uh…**

**Roma: Well they do have to fit a lot in those books…**

**Lovino: At least it's a new year so we get all new ones…**

**HermitArthur: Yeah. We're the first ones to write our names in the book.**

**GilbertofAwesome: :D Awesome! I can't wait to write something hilarious~**

**Roma: XD**

**Lovino: Hey! Try writing your name!**

**GilbertofAwesome: That is totally no fun.**

**HermitArthur: I suppose someone could take up all the boxes just to be funny…**

**Lovino: I'm not doing that.**

**GilbertofAwesome: or just doodle on the whole cover.**

**Roma: If you do that, I didn't condone it.**

**Lovino: You are a bad influence on us all.**

**HermitArthur: Well it doesn't say in the book we have to write our names…**

**GilbertofAwesome: Ja. So we can write whatever we want. I can do the grim reaper one.**

**Roma: …not the grim reaper. Principal said he was going to page that one to the office if he saw it.**

**GilbertofAwesome: K. Not the reaper. How about…**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: How about finishing your schoolwork?**

**Roma: Oh he was here.**

**HermitArthur: …that username is getting longer.**

**Roma: XD**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: Shut it Roma. Gilbert, stop changing my name!**

**GilbertofAwesome: D: Vati, you're so meeeean. I finished already, honest! I tired~!**

**Lovino: …I'm just gonna go set the table now…**

**Lovino has signed off!**

Lovino exited the room, noticing Feliciano's door was open once again. Apparently he had missed the rush past his bedroom door (not that he really cared). Half-hopping down the stairs, Lovino glanced down the hall and saw that Roma's door remained shut. This was not going to bode well. _'And the stubborn attitudes collide. Right on schedule.'_ Lovino picked up the plates off the counter and began moving around the table, setting one down at each of the four chairs.

"Alexander! Can you go tell dad that supper is ready?" Amelia peered out of the kitchen.

Lovino looked towards the ceiling as his dad went down the hall. Terrific. Attitudes on both sides of a closed door. Supper with entertainment. Lovino glanced at his mother for a moment before picking up the silverware as he continued to set the table, choosing to keep the comment to himself.

"Dad! Supper is being put on the table!"

Lovino set the glasses down, ignoring the yell from the hall.

"Okay…" Amelia set the bowl down in the middle, "All that's left is to have everyone seated!"

"Yeah. Good luck with that." Lovino plopped down in the chair that he usually sat in (next to Roma) and drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for the argument to continue in the hallway.

Amelia sat next to Alexander's chair and smiled cheerfully, moving her plate an inch to the right before doing the same with her glass.

Lovino just shook his head slightly. Every Sunday. He had this schedule memorized. Four o'clock meant grandpa was back from the store and arguing with dad about forgetting something on the list from the night before. Five o'clock and supper was ready, and also meant that dad and grandpa would then be arguing through a closed door in the hallway. At five-oh-five his mother would be fiddling with everything on the table until Roma finally came out of his bedroom.

Alexander stalked out of the hall and sat in his own chair, visibly annoyed.

Five-oh-six, dad gives up and sits at the supper table without saying a word.

Amelia glanced at him before glancing over her shoulder, "Is he coming?"

"He's not answering." Alexander said flatly, taking a long sip of his drink.

Amelia began putting spoonfuls of spaghetti on each plate of the table, taking her time, "Well this gives it time to cool off at least."

Lovino covered his eyes with a hand and let out a sigh. Every damn Sunday. Like clockwork. Was it any wonder why Feliciano avoided the house like the plague on Sundays?

Five-ten and Alexander was sent back down the hallway by Amelia who had finished filling everyone's plate.

"Daaaad…"

Five-eleven and Alexander was getting frustrated, still like clockwork. Nothing changes.

Lovino glanced at his mother, "You realize this happens every week?"

"I'm aware of it." Amelia hummed softly, keeping a display of complete patience, "No worries."

"Uh-huh." Lovino shook his head and looked away, tapping a finger on the side of his glass.

Five-fifteen and Alexander was now yelling through the door.

"You could at least give some kind of response to let me know you can hear me!"

Lovino leaned slightly and saw a piece of paper come out from under the door, "Oh that's new."

Amelia turned her head in confusion, "What is?"

Alexander picked up the note and glanced at it, long enough for him to read whatever was on it and promptly kick the door (thankfully it didn't collapse), "ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS."

"…" Amelia let out a long sigh.

Right. Grandpa's retort was due at five-sixteen. That must have been it. Lovino took a sip of his own drink and waited for someone's stubborn attitude to give. So far, Roma had been the one to give in, but who knows, something could change.

"I'll start worrying when we can pinpoint actions by what time it is." Amelia leaned back in her chair, still calm surprisingly.

Lovino stared at her blankly, "What do you think I've been doing? Twenty after annnnd…"

"You just went to the store to pick up the damn sauce! At least come out and eat something!"

Lovino gave a sarcastic motion of his hand, "Right on time."

"Now that's just sad." Amelia stood up and stalked over to where Alexander was standing, "Okay, when the actions are timed, it's a little ridiculous. Alexander, go sit. I will talk to the door."

"Oh yeah. That's gonna help." Lovino sighed.

Alexander huffed but returned to his seat and promptly emptied his glass.

"Dad~ Could you please come out and join us for supper?" Amelia smiled cheerfully at the door (to no avail).

Five-twenty-one. Mother tries her attempt. And gets silence for a response.

Alexander picked up a bottle of wine off the counter and refilled his glass.

Five-twenty-two, dad finishes his second glass before grandpa even opens the door. It's hard to tell who's being the most stubborn.

Amelia returned to the table, "Okay. Apparently he's not eating."

Lovino ate a forkful of spaghetti, eyes flitting to the clock now and then.

Alexander had eaten two bites before slamming the table and stalking down the hall.

"Five-thirty." Lovino said flatly.

"Hilarious." Amelia commented.

"Every Saturday, dad forgets the spaghetti sauce. Every Sunday we have spaghetti, right after grandpa gets sent to the store and they both get into an argument as soon as he gets home. This is clockwork." Lovino snapped.

A loud crash echoed from the hall and Lovino winced.

"I think the clock broke." Amelia blinked, glancing at her glass where the wine was moving back and forth with the table's shaking.

"I don't think that was a clock. I think that was someone's door." Lovino leaned to peer down the hall and saw his dad had vanished, "Judging by the doorknob on the floor…"

"Oh for heaven's sake." Amelia buried her face in her hands, "We have too many stubborn people under one roof."

"Clearly." Lovino said flatly, "But I'm in full agreement with grandpa. This is ridiculous. How does dad forget every week?"

"I don't know!" Amelia stood up and went down the hall to try and smooth over the argument (which was fast becoming quite audible).

Lovino picked up Roma's plate and dumped it back into the dish in the center of the table. Throwing his own in the bowl as well, Lovino exited the kitchen, pausing only to put Roma's coat on the table in the hallway. It was getting cold outside with the sun having set.

"Every Sunday." Lovino sighed, sitting down on the stairs. He remained hidden from view while he watched Roma, still yelling, stalk right past the kitchen. The sleeve of the coat vanished and a loud slam of the front door marked his exit, "At least he took the coat this time."

"You're paying for the door." Amelia snapped, stalking into the kitchen, "Oh for. And now Lovino's gone, too."

"Every Sunday." Lovino went up the stairs while his parents had his back to him, shutting the door to his bedroom quietly. And here Antonio was wondering why Lovino had a desk so close to his door. Lovino shoved the desk in front of the door and collapsed on the bed. _'Grandpa really is a bad influence. I'm putting furniture in front of my door now.'_

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Yay~ Chapter is done! :D And Lovino gets the longest chapter award.


	3. I lost my temper again damn it!

Those characters that have not yet shown up (such as Ludwig, Feliciano, and Roderich) will start showing up now that the school days are starting. Also, some of the fanfics are more than likely going to have repeated appearances by side characters (such as Roma appeared in Canadian Style) If it becomes apparent that someone is staying as a side character in a specific fanfic, I shall let you all know :D

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**Dawn of the first school day**

Lovino cursed and ran down the steps. He had ended up staying up entirely too late trying to help Matthew with Alfred (A.N. **Canadian Style has the full conversation)**, and by the time he went to bed, he worried about Antonio for the rest of the night.

"School with no sleep. Just damn terrific." Lovino paused in the hallway and leaned backwards in the doorway to see Roma was cooking in the kitchen. When the hell had he gotten home?

"Morning~" Roma waved upon spotting Lovino in the doorframe.

"…hello." Lovino grabbed the plate he was being offered and sat down at the table.

"Apparently your parents aren't up yet." Roma commented, making a face as he sat down next to Lovino (which was probably a good thing, seeing as how there had been only three plates on the counter, Lovino noticed).

"I'm sure the argument would have woken me up otherwise." Lovino commented, finishing the meal in what was probably record time for him. He stood up, only pausing long enough to throw the dishes in the sink before bolting for the door.

"I'll show up at the school in a bit~" Roma called, still lingering in the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you later." Lovino responded before throwing open the door. He ran outside, pausing only to think of Feliciano for a split second, "Screw it. He's a senior, he can get himself up! I am not being late on the first day!"

Lovino hurried down the sidewalk, coming within a few inches of running smack into Antonio and Cruz (the hell? They even walk to school together now?) as they came around the corner.

"Lovi~" Antonio was the first to recover from the shock of the near-collision and promptly hugged Lovino.

"Morning…" Lovi sighed, noticing that Cruz (remaining behind Antonio) just rolled his eyes.

"Too damn early for that crap." Cruz grumbled, stalking past the two males in front of him.

Antonio stuck his tongue out at the retreating back and turned back to Lovino, "Ready for the first day of our last year?"

"Not hardly." Lovino scowled, "Nowhere near enough sleep to sit through these boring classes."

"How late were you up?" Antonio tilted his head as they were walking, keeping his gaze on Lovino.

"Uh…" Lovino made a face, "Technically…I was awake the whole night."

"Lovi! No falling asleep during class! You can't get sent down to the office on your first day!" Antonio exclaimed.

"Whatever. If they send me down there, I don't care." Lovino sighed.

Antonio pouted for a minute before the smile returned, "So what were you doing that you stayed up so late?"

"…Talking to Matthew. It was nothing important, I was just trying to help him with something and we both ended up failing miserably at the brainstorming." Lovino bit his lip before an insult could sneak out about Antonio being nosey.

Antonio tilted his head again, but didn't ask anything further on what Lovino had been saying. Either he was actually getting smart, or he had somehow read Lovino's mind telling him not to ask.

"I'm leaving you two idiots behind if you don't hurry up!" Cruz snapped, glaring over his shoulder.

"Meany!" Antonio pouted.

"Don't call us idiots!" Lovino retorted, "I'm telling Matthew you're being rude!"

"Are you in grade school?! What the hell did he have to do with anything?!" Cruz yelled (though Lovino noticed he did stop walking briefly at the threat).

Antonio burst out laughing while Cruz and Lovino continued yelling back and forth at one another, "You guys are so much fun to watch!"

Lovino's face reddened promptly and he (lightly) punched Antonio in the shoulder, "I am not your morning entertainment!"

"Walking with you two is going to wear me out before we even get in sight of that stupid building." Cruz continued walking (that scowl was going to take a permanent residence on his face, and Lovino was going to laugh when it did).

"Then go away!" Lovino yelled.

Antonio tugged on Lovino's sleeve, pouting again, "Lovi! Don't get mad!"

Cruz just rolled his eyes and kept walking, not even bothering to give a response to Lovino.

"How are you two even related?!" Lovino strangled the air in front of him, teeth gritted as he spoke.

"Hm? We're cousins." Antonio gave him a blank stare, apparently the meaning of what he was saying went right over the Spaniard's head.

"I _meant_ that you two are complete opposites!" Lovino clarified, glaring at Antonio for a moment.

"Oh. Yeah." Antonio rubbed the back of his head, "Well…we don't really get along all that well, so I guess it's not surprising that people say we're opposites."

Lovino stared up at Antonio, "Hey. What the hell is with that facial expression you're making?"

"Hm? Oh nothing! Just thinking~" Antonio laughed and started running down the sidewalk, "Let's go~"

"Liar!" Lovino chased the laughing male down the sidewalk, "Tell me damn it!"

"Ahahaha…" Antonio came to a sudden stop, causing Lovino to run into his back and almost made them both fall over from the collision (thankfully they didn't), "Actually…" He rubbed the back of his head again, "I was just thinking you and Cruz were a lot alike."

Lovino rubbed his nose where he had hit Antonio and stalked around the taller male, planting his feet in front of him, "So what? I get along with you just fine!"

"Mostly…" Antonio whispered, shuffling his foot back and forth.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Lovino growled, "Am I missing something here? You're acting completely not like you, and it's impossible to figure out what you're thinking!"

"…" Antonio's gaze drifted past Lovino to focus on a random nearby building. Apparently he wasn't getting a response.

"Oh for!" Lovino threw his hands up in the air, "You know what. Fine. Whatever, do whatever the hell you want. I'm not dealing with this. You want to be all odd and not talking, fine. But you can do it by yourself!" Lovino turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving Antonio behind.

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Lovino glared around the auditorium for a familiar (okay, so all of these people were familiar by this point) face, before sitting in a random empty seat with an angry huff. Perfect morning. No sleep whatsoever and now he had lost his temper at Antonio before school even started.

"Damn idiot." Lovino slumped lower in his seat, waiting for the presentation to begin and be over with (preferably as soon as possible). He couldn't quite tell who he was more mad at, though, Antonio for acting weird or himself for losing his temper after telling Matthew he would try not to.

Letting his gaze wander around the room, Lovino spotted Gilbert and Ludwig a few rows down, but the short blonde was nowhere in sight. "Huh…I wonder where the miniature stiff is." Half-debating whether or not to go down, Lovino got his answer the instant he spotted Feliciano (when the hell had he even gotten up and how did he get here so damn fast?!) beside Ludwig. Scratch the meeting up with Gilbert, this seat was comfy anyway.

"Feliciano must have gotten up before me." Lovino sighed and shook his head. Maybe Feliciano was actually going to attempt to be on time this year…HA.

"Can I have your attention please? I would like to start this assembly in five minutes! Please find a seat and sit there so we can get this over with!"

Lovino rolled his eyes at the principal's attempt to get some order in the auditorium and tapped his foot on the floor idly. Still no sign of anyone else he actually talked to. Surpisingly, he hadn't seen Antonio come in yet either.

"Where the hell is he at?" Lovino twisted in his seat and looked towards the back where the entrance doors were, "He might have come in one of the other doors…" He squinted, trying to make out the faces that were all crammed in the rows in the section of seats closest to him, but couldn't see any of his friends, much less Antonio's face.

"Can I sit here?"

Lovino blinked, realizing Ivan was standing right next to him (first Feli and now this giant appears out of thin air? What the heck?) "Go for it." Lovino motioned to the empty seat and turned towards the front again as Ivan scooted past him.

Ivan smiled cheerfully, "Thank you! I could not find Yao anywhere and thought I might have to sit by myself!" Ivan plunked down in the seat right next to Lovino.

"I couldn't find anyone to sit with either." Lovino shrugged. Only a half-lie. Half-lies didn't count as lying.

"Hopefully our friends are not late." Ivan glanced around (presumably still looking for his little Chinese friend).

"That's their fault then! We can always pass a summarized version of this crap later." Lovino grumbled, sinking in his seat again.

"This is true. I wonder what this is about." Ivan glanced towards the stage, where the principal was now tapping on the microphone.

"Please don't let this be depressing." Lovino glanced upwards towards the ceiling.

"You can lean on me if you need to!" Ivan put his arm around Lovino and yanked the Italian closer to him (not that Lovino had much choice in the matter, the guy was strong).

"Only thing I'm going to lean on you for is if I need a pillow!" Lovino snapped, but any attempts to push away were quickly realized as being futile (apparently Mr. Giant also had a really strong grip).

"If this is boring, sure. I might fall asleep as well." Ivan laughed cheerfully.

"Okay, if I may have your attention now!"

Lovino rolled his eyes and continued to remain with his head leaning on Ivan's shoulder. Oh well. He was probably going to fall asleep within the first five minutes anyway.

"Last year we had a few incidents that needed to be addressed to make they didn't happen again in the future."

"What incidents is he talking about?" Ivan whispered.

"Probably the teachers losing their sanity." Lovino responded (it was the only thing he could think of at the current time).

"Now as some of you may know, we had an issue with our gym teacher last year…"

Somewhere behind them, Lovino and Ivan both heard as short laugh followed by: "That's putting it mildly!"

"Cruz must be behind us." Lovino commented.

"That would be good assumption." Ivan started laughing again.

"He is no longer teaching here, and there have been other staff changes as well. I'm sure you will know our new teachers when you see them in the hallways."

"Are they holding neon signs?" Lovino asked incredulously.

"They would be really easy to spot then!" Ivan agreed.

"However! There were some isolated incidents that did not involve a teacher…technically."

Lovino and Ivan exchanged confused glances. What the hell was technically supposed to mean?

"The student who hijacked our intercom (Lovino heard the laugh, a bit louder this time, from behind them again) has been foiled in any further attempts to do so, as that door is now securely locked at all times."

"Just wait. He'll break the lock if he wants to use that again." Lovino grinned slightly.

"I think he would be in lot of trouble." Ivan said, but was smiling as he spoke.

"Any attempts by any student to start a food fight, regardless of the food being edible or not, will be dealt with in the office. I am not having a repeat of last year's fight causing several students to go to the hospital!"

"I missed that one." Ivan sighed, "That sounded like so much fun."

"It was in the lunch before mine, but I still ended up going to the hospital because I got in a fight with an annoying redhead." Lovino commented dryly.

"If any student is found to be skipping class, do yourself a favor. Just go to the office with the staff member who found you, and don't be like this student."

Lovino watched with an expression of doubt on his face as a video turned on behind the principal, "What is…oh."

Ivan burst out laughing as the video showed Matthew sprinting down the hall away from the principal, "Run~!"

"Heard about this one. Yup. There he goes." Lovino watched as Matthew hit the puddle of water, skidded a few inches before hitting the banister and tipping over it.

"Oh. That was probably painful." Ivan winced.

Lovino shook his head with a sigh.

"I assure you, he survived the landing." Mr. Smith commented, "While skipping class entirely is worse, any student found on their _cell phones_ in class will also be in the office. This _also_ goes for any guidance counselor or teacher!"

Lovino burst out laughing, he could already imagine the look on his grandpa's face if Roma had heard that one.

"People will have to be sneakier…" Ivan chuckled.

"If for whatever reason, you do decide to skip class, don't go out the front doors and get hit by a car. Please."

There was another (much louder) laugh behind Lovino and Ivan, though Lovino was also laughing at that one. Arthur's face was probably turning very red right now.

"I am not making those phone calls again. Telling a parent their child was hit by a car is hard enough without having to explain that the student was also skipping class at the time. And just because your teacher tells you to leave if you don't want to be there is not a justified reason for leaving school in the first place!"

This time Lovino turned to see if he could spot the person who was laughing so damn loud. Fortunately Ivan had also turned so he was actually able to sit up instead of being held in what felt like an awkward one-armed hug. However, since the lights had dimmed (if not, then they were completely off) once the principal had started talking, it made visibility even worse than _before_ this speech began.

"Someone is really enjoying this." Ivan commented.

"Yeah." Lovino turned front again, "I pity whoever is sitting near or next to him, too." As if it was really that hard to figure out who the 'someone' was.

"Those things having been said," Mr. Smith continued, seemingly oblivious to the laughter, "Threatening, bullying, excessive cursing, and also placing a curse on someone is not tolerated. I don't care what the circumstances are."

"Placing a curse on someone…" Ivan started.

"Well. I'd bet any amount of money right now that Arthur is dying with laughter." Lovino sighed.

"That last one shouldn't be an issue so much now since the main offenders graduated last year. However, their siblings that still attend this school are kindly requested to refrain from following in their footsteps!"

"Can Arthur even curse people?" Lovino tilted his head.

"Oh sure. He did it all the time when we were freshmen. It was hilarious." Ivan laughed.

Lovino turned his head slowly to stare at Ivan. Chalk one more thing onto the list of things he'd rather not have known about. Though he was rather curious about the circumstances of why Arthur would curse someone in the first place (and if it worked).

"I think that covers just about…oh. Also, as most of you have no doubt experiences, hormones are running rampant the older you get. Please keep the public displays of affection limited to handholding only."

"Running rampant." Lovino repeated flatly.

"Not here." Ivan tilted his head.

"That should cover everything now. I cordially invite anyone with questions or concerns about these or any policies to come to the office if need be. As long as it's not to complain about a teacher within five minutes of stepping into their classroom. That goes for the student with sass issues."

There was an indignant shout from behind Lovino and Ivan, followed by what Mr. Smith would call excessive cursing, but Lovino was too busy laughing to pay much attention.

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Um…long chapter? xD *does word count* Well. Not all that long I suppose. I've written longer. xD


	4. Thanks Cruz!

This is ridiculous trying to type up all these now. Now I remember why I preferred typing them to begin with. *sob*

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Lovino glared at the blackboard that had a set of questions written on it. They were supposed to be answering them on a separate piece of paper (something to do with helping the teacher know which subject to spend the most time on).

Cruz sat in the next to his left, also scowling at the blackboard. What the hell was even the point of doing this? He had some of the questions answered, but had paused to re-read one, and now felt more like flinging the paper across the classroom.

"Take your time, no right or wrong answers here!" Mrs. Starr called.

"Something happen so I have an excuse to stop." Cruz grumbled under his breath, looking back down at his paper again.

Lovino jerked when the phone rang, making a long line go across his paper, "For you?" He gave a sideways glance at Cruz.

"Ha ha. Funny." Cruz growled in response.

"Hello? Oh, hi. Um, sure. No problem." Mrs. Starr glanced out at the class, "Cruz, phone is for you."

Cruz stared at her with a blank expression, "Now what the hell did I do?" Nonetheless, he stood up and walked to the front of the classroom, taking the phone with an eyeroll, "What?"

Lovino made a face. _Nice way to answer the phone._ Still, he watched the other male with a curious expression.

"The hell kind of question is that? Yes he did." Cruz looked back towards Lovino with a pointed glare.

Lovino blinked several times. If he was trying to communicate telepathically, the message wasn't getting through. What kind of look was that?

"I don't even know what he's thinking half the time. If he's not in class I have no clue why!" Cruz snapped into the phone and hung up shortly after. He stalked back to his seat and sat down, glaring at the blackboard once more.

"What was that about?" Lovino looked at him in confusion.

"Antonio apparently decided to skip." Cruz tapped his pencil on the desktop in an annoyed manner.

"Huh?" Lovino tilted his head. The male beside him didn't respond or repeat what he had said, and instead just sat in silence, glaring towards the front of the room while a distinct wave of pissed-off-fury radiated off of him. Lovino looked back down at his paper. Okay, so why wasn't he in class? He did come to school right? Lovino held his head in both hands and hit his forehead to his desk. _Damn it damn it damn it._ Why had he gone and lost his temper again?!

Cruz didn't say anything despite the signs of distress to his immediate right. The last time he had seen his cousin, the male had been walking with Lovino. So if anything, the Italian would have a better idea of why Antonio wasn't in class. _Talk about annoying._ Cruz looked down at his half-empty sheet of paper and crumpled it violently into a ball shape. That helped somewhat. He still wanted to throw something though. Cruz hurled the balled-up paper so it hit the blackboard and rebounded onto the teacher's desk. Yes. That helped.

"I take it that whoever threw this was done with it?" Mrs. Starr held up the crumpled paper.

Lovino lifted his head long enough to see what she was talking about. And judging by the smirk on his face, the paper had come from the now-empty desk of Cruz. Lovino laid his head back down on the desk, returning to his current train of thought (swearing at himself for being so stupid).

Cruz stared at Lovino (who had apparently given up on the questions as well). He wasn't sure if he should ask now or wait until later to find out of something had happened. Going by the body language of the smaller male, it might be best to avoid upsetting the short guy even more. Looked like he was doing that well enough on his own.

"Could whoever threw this do the me the favor of at least writing your name?" Mrs. Starr glanced around the room.

"No." Cruz grumbled, "I'm not falling for that one."

Lovino lifted his head once more and looked down at the paper on his desk. _I should really finish this._ He picked up his pen and hesitated. Answering questions on general-goodness-knows-what subjects was _not_ where his mind was focused right now.

"Fine then. Someone won't get credit." Mrs. Starr tossed the paper back on her desk.

"Like I care." Cruz rolled his eyes.

Lovino glanced at him. He shrugged and folded his own paper into a paper airplane. The plane went flying across the classroom, landing peacefully on the floor next to the teacher's desk.

"I see I have a couple jokesters in this class." Mrs. Starr commented, leaning on her desk without bothering to pick up the airplane.

"Did you write your name?" Cruz looked at Lovino, being completely (and obviously) sarcastic.

"Hell no. I'm not getting a one-way ticket to the damn office for a paper airplane." Lovino scowled.

Cruz grinned in response, "Don't pass through the doors, do not collect bruises from an oncoming car?"

"Don't tempt me." Lovino smiled a bit, picking up on the joke (even if it was at Arthur's expense).

"Don't pass by the bucket of water, do not collect one slip and fall?" Cruz tilted his head.

"I don't know, the bucket of water might come in handy." Lovino tapped his fingers on the desk.

"Only if you're planning on stopping an invasion from the planet of School Board Idiots."

Lovino quickly covered his mouth to muffle the laugh that had escaped. Last thing he wanted was to get sent down to the office for laughing on top of the paper airplane.

"Course…bow and arrows work fine for that, too." Cruz looked thoughtful for a minute, "Someone should make a historical marker for that."

"This sign marks the spot where a handful of sophomore students heroically stood up to the idiot invasion and drove them back to where they had come from." Lovino nodded, "And careful who you say that to. Someone actually might."

Cruz smirked, "Roderich probably would."

"Or Gilbert." Lovino agreed.

It took a few minutes for the realization that Cruz had been trying (and successfully) to cheer him up to sink in.

_I should probably thank him for that._ Lovino smiled to himself.

"Class is just about over! If all the remaining test papers could make their way to the front of the class… preferably not in ball or plane form…"

Cruz grinned.

"Already threw mine." Lovino smiled at the student in front of him who turned to look at the empty desk.

"Mine is long gone." Cruz shrugged at the female in front of him, "Aliens must have abducted it."

"Not from the planet of school board idiots I hope? You really should carry a defensive weapon with you." Lovino picked up his notebook, getting ready to leave.

Cruz burst out laughing as soon as the bell rang, "Right! What ever was I thinking?"

"Haven't the faintest idea. Invasions always happen in duplicate. You should have prepared for their revenge." Lovino stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

Cruz continued laughing as they exited the classroom, "Should I watch out for a third hit?"

"You never know. They might try and hit when you least expect it!" Lovino grinned.

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Hoo…another one typed up…sad thing is, I almost have all the chapters after this set written out too. :/


	5. Roof is off limits now

…It's pretty sad that the Author's Note at the end of last chapter can be applied to this one as well. =w= If you're reading Awesome Style, you may notice that Roderich and Lovino overlap. Sorry about that. It was unintended and I didn't even realize that the two collided until I had already made up their class schedules and had started writing.

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Lovino continued walking alongside Cruz, still joking about the school board.

"We should probably stop." Cruz held a serious expression on his face for less than a minute before starting to laugh again, "They might have spies!"

"Aliens always have spies." Lovino gave him a light shove, "You clearly don't watch any sci-fi movies."

"Anything that would make me similar to Jones I don't do." Cruz rolled his eyes.

"You both like Matthew." Lovino leaned forward to see the other's reaction and was awarded with a red blush. Victory!

"That is the _only_ thing we have in common." Cruz looked away, but failed in hiding his embarrassment.

Lovino smiled to himself, practically doing an inward victory cheer. At least Matthew would get an answer. Arthur was on his own, because Alfred was impossible. The man shut up like a clam when he didn't want to talk about something. Maybe a hammer would help. "I don't know, you all like ice-cream."

"Shut it." Cruz's face turned a darker shade of red and he shoved Lovino as revenge, "Leave me alone."

Lovino grinned and glanced at his schedule only to realize his class was behind him, "Crap."

"Hm?" Cruz blinked at him, "Wrong way?"

"Yeah. Class is…" Lovino looked up at the ceiling as the bell rang, "…DAMN IT." He sprinted back the way he had come, while Cruz ran in the opposite direction, cursing out a blue streak as he went.

Lovino scrambled for the paper his schedule was printed on again, glancing hastily up at the room numbers listed in each hall, "I'm so in trouble…" He made a mad dash for the (thankfully) still open door to his class…only to discover that the teacher wasn't even present.

"All that running and the teacher isn't even here!" Lovino glowered at the seating assignment before finding his seat near the back of the room. Right behind an amused Roderich. Perfect.

"Neither is half our class." The male in front of him turned in his seat to look at Lovino, "Why were you late?"

It's a good thing the question sounded like it was more out of concern, and not an accusation, otherwise Roderich would have gotten his head bit off. "Went the wrong way. I was talking with someone and wasn't paying attention." Lovino hit his head against his desk, attempting to catch his breath. Why had it even taken him so damn long to even _look_ at his schedule?!

"Well our teacher has to get here at some point." Roderich had turned back towards the front of the room again.

Lovino scowled at the wall, "What kind of teacher is late to their own class? Were they even here in the last bell?" And if they were, where the hell had the person gone to?

"Please tell me he is not our teacher."

Lovino glanced up, lifting his head just enough to see that Roma had peeked into the room, "You have _got_ to be kidding."

"Is your teacher not here yet?" Roma asked, oblivious to the look on his grandson's face.

_Well obviously not!_ Lovino wanted to yell but thankfully someone else had answered before he could. His mouth had already done enough trouble this morning. Maybe he could just put duct tape over his mouth.

Lovino watched in half-disbelief, half-annoyance, as Roma crossed the room, where the adult picked up a piece of paper that was laying on the teacher's desk. What, they left a note for a substitute to find? That was real nice, _not._ Be here for your own class you idiot!

"Well, easy enough to cover!" Roma picked up a few textbooks and handed them out to each student. At least since half the class wasn't there, he didn't have to make as many trips back and forth, but then again, the complete lack of caring that they _weren't_ there was a little discomforting.

"You're not even licensed to be a sub!" Lovino hissed, taking a textbook from him.

"Shush." Roma smacked him lightly on the head, "Please remember to write your names in your textbooks! It's difficult to return a found book with no name!"

Lovino glared at the inside cover of his textbook, looking at the names of those who had the book before him. Apparently there had been quite a few comedians, including Annoyed Older Brother, who had the book the year before. _I wonder what the odds are of that being Allistor or Reilly_. Lovino hesitated. Write his real name or something else… Timekeeper sounded appropriate. He left the year block empty for the moment. He'd think of something to write in there later.

"She also wants you to fill out this paper…"

Lovino glanced up as a paper was placed on his desk, "Please write a valid, and responsible, name of someone who can pick up your homework for you in case you miss class for any extended amount of time."

Lovino stared at the paper blankly. Well the emphasis on responsible meant Feliciano was out. Not that Lovino would have probably used him anyway. Grandpa it is. He's here everyday anyway. Even if responsible wasn't exactly the first word that came to mind when he thought of his grandfather.

"This person can be a classmate, sibling, friend not in this class, or…alumni of the school." Roma made a face at the paper, and Lovino assumed it was due to poor handwriting. "Just pass them up when you're done." Roma called, "I don't really see a point in going over anything else on this paper, it's mostly common sense, so just have some free time." Roma picked up the papers as they were handed front, and placed them on the teacher's desk before he left the room.

"Who was that?"

Lovino slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead, "Idiot! Leave the room without an adult present!"

"He did." Roderich let out an annoyed sigh.

Lovino scowled at the clock. They still had most of the class period left!

Roderich turned in his seat to look at him for a moment, "Do you know where Antonio is?"

"No, haven't seen him since before the assembly." Lovino laid his head back down on the desk, burying his face in his arms. Hopefully his body language would tell the other male he didn't want to talk about it.

"Did he seem okay?" Apparently his body language did nothing.

"He was _fine_ when I saw him." Lovino lifted his head to glare at Roderich. That was a complete lie. "If he hadn't been, I wouldn't have left!" That was another lie. Doing just wonderful this morning.

Roderich stared at the wall without answering at first. "…Alfred went to the principal because Matthew also didn't show up."

"Maybe Antonio stopped with him somewhere then." Lovino muttered.

"Said the principal called the police." Roderich continued.

"Oh that's nice. He'll have a fit."

"He shouldn't worry people then." Roderich huffed.

Lovino pulled out his phone and glanced at it. No messages. He wasn't sure if he should send one to Antonio or not. **Lovino (to Antonio): Sorry for this morning. **He'd just leave it at that. And maybe (_hopefully) _get a response.

Roderich had turned in his seat again, facing the front of the room once more, leaving Lovino to his thoughts, which seemed to de-rail at that point.

"Screw this." Lovino grabbed his textbook and stood up, startling everyone, including Roderich.

"Where are you going?" Roderich stared up at him in surprise.

"Out of this damn room." Lovino left and let the door slam behind him. What the hell was the point when the teacher wasn't even there? He dragged his feet through the hall, not sure where to even go, but he somehow found himself going up the stairs to the school roof.

Exiting out through the roof door, he sat down at the guardrail, pressing his face up against the bars to look down over the school grounds. The textbook was set down next to him while his eyes roamed the area. _Damn it. I should have at least made sure he started walking again. Why the hell do I have to be such an idiot sometimes?_

Lovino stood up and leaned against the railing, staring downwards to where he could see a gym class running around outside. _Terrific. We're playing some stupid sport on our first day._ Looked like some sort of touch tag from up here.

Lovino swung one leg up over the railing, followed by the other, so he was standing on the other side of the railing. He sat down once more, letting his legs hang over the side of the building. There was plenty of room for him to sit here without any worry of falling, so it wasn't a big deal. Besides, he used to do this all the time a couple years ago.

However, in hindsight, it may not have been such a good idea. Lovino heard a shout (incomprehensible from the distance though) and glanced downwards to find the teacher staring up at him (at least he assumed it was a teacher, it was the only person in a sweatsuit). He was definitely yelling something, but what was being said, Lovino had no clue.

Realizing his phone was going off, Lovino pulled the device out from his pocket, thinking for a minute that maybe Antonio had texted him, but no. It was just… Cruz.

**Cruz: Some **** idiot better get off the ******* roof!**

**Roderich: Who would be up there anyway?!**

**Gilbert: You are killing my sleep time. -_-**

Lovino scanned the class group down below for a minute before spotting Cruz standing near where the teacher was. So _that_ was the class he had second. And he even had to run to get there. How ironic! If Lovino wasn't annoyed at the messages and the panicking teacher, he probably would have laughed.

**Alfred: Dude! D: Get off the roof!**

**Roderich: Please tell me we don't know the person.**

**Roma: Please tell me you all have study hall.**

Lovino rolled his eyes and kicked his legs back and forth, ignoring the yelling now. He did make a point of glancing at his phone now and then though. If only because the censored words were making him smile a bit.

**Roderich: Well YOU made this one a study hall!**

**Gilbert: I'm in one…**

**Cruz: In ******* gym**

**Alfred: Same here**

**Roma: Oh great. So who's on the roof?**

**Lovino: Me. -_- Can I not get fresh air?**

**Roderich: you idiot!**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Cruz: You're on the wrong side of the **** railing!**

**Roma: O_O Loviii! Get doowwwwn!**

**Alfred: Get fresh air in the middle of the roof!**

**Lovino: It's more fun where I can see people waving their arms and yelling words I can't understand.**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Cruz: You seriously have five ******* minutes**

**Roderich: Good. Go up there.**

**Lovino: Chill. I'm moving.**

Lovino rolled his eyes and stood up. Glancing over the edge once more, which seemed to make the teacher panic even more, judging by the arm flailing (gym should be fun later!), he waved sarcastically before climbing back over the railing. He turned back to see the teacher looked like he had heaved a huge sigh of relief (the dude was hunched over).

Plopping down on the tiled roof once more, Lovino shook his head. Seriously. If he had been about to jump, he would have done so on the opposite side, where no class was. Idiots.

**Roderich: did he move?**

**Cruz: Yeah.**

**Alfred: Yet another teacher counting down the days until retirement**

**Roma: Lovi~ Please don't be on the roof at all!**

**Lovino: Deal with it. I'm sitting up here.**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Roderich: what is funny about this?!**

Lovino glanced up from his phone when the door banged open (literally, it slammed against the wall). Oh goody. The reaper showed up, "Like I was even going to jump."

"You shouldn't even be up here!" Mr. Smith yelled, "Off!" He pointed to the door behind him with an angry gesture.

"You are rude. You could have at least asked politely." Lovino dragged himself up on his feet, grabbing his textbook as he did so.

"I don't have patience enough for that." The principal responded, half pushing Lovino through the door.

"Clearly." Lovino scowled, returning down the steps, "Am I seriously not allowed to get fresh air?"

"Not on the roof!" Mr. Smith snapped, making sure to lock to the door to the roof stairwell.

Lovino stared at him in response. So did that mean he could just walk out one of the side doors instead? Since the roof and the front door were off limits, the side door was the only thing left unsaid.

"To the office." Mr. Smith motioned down the hall.

"For sitting on the roof?" Lovino looked at him in disbelief, "That was not in the rulebook!"

"It's about to be!" Mr. Smith retorted.

.

.

* * *

**Lovino: In the office.**

**Cruz: Serves you right.**

**Alfred: XD**

**Gilbert: Should we do a prison break?**

**Roderich: have fun in group detention Gilbert. I'm sure your father will be proud.**

**Lovino: I think that's when the most effective time for a prison break is. :I**

**Roma: =w= Could you please remember I can see these?**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Alfred: No problem! We'll use code words!**

**Roderich: I want no part in this.**

**Cruz: Actually, considering my track record, that might come in handy.**

**Roma: =w=**

**Lovino: ;D**

**Gilbert: XD Code words for prison breakouts!**

**Regis: Is there something I should know about?**

**Gilbert: No. :I**

**Roma: Help. ;_; These people…**

**Lovino: Oh shut it. I can hear you laughing from here.**

**Regis: ._.**

**Roderich: Oh for…**

**Cruz: XD**

**Alfred: XD**

**Roma: ;D**

**Regis: Don't get fired idiot. -_-**

**Roma: Me? D:**

**Lovino: You are fooling nobody. Of course losing your job means more time at home…**

**Roma: Don't finish that sentence.**

**Regis: ._.**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Roderich: Huh?**

**Cruz: ._.**

**Alfred: uh… ._.**

**Allistor: WOULD YOU ALL STOP CHATTING IN SCHOOL?!**

**Alfred: O_O Whoa!**

**Regis: I'm not even there…**

**Roma: XD**

**Gilbert: But I have study hall D:**

**Roderich: didn't you want to sleep?**

**Regis: ._.**

**Gilbert: Hush it.**

**Cruz: In gym with Jones**

**Lovino: In the office with a reaper and a hyena**

**Allistor: Okay that last one piqued my curiosity.**

**Roma: I am not a hyena!**

**Lovino: If I can hear you laughing from where I'm sitting…**

**Cruz: Reaper is Smith?**

**Lovino: Who else?**

**Roma: ;_;**

**Regis: -_-**

**Roderich: well I'm sure he meant it in the best way possible…**

**Gilbert: Pfft. Right.**

**Lovino: Seriously. -_- Control your laughing.**

**Roma: My ribs hurt.**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Alfred: Dude. Do you people have any idea how hard it is to aldfkja-**

**Cruz: Jones tripped and fell.**

**Roderich: Then I think we all know the end to his sentence.**

**Roma: Can we not have a mass hospital run this year please?**

**Lovino: I got off the roof. :I**

**Cruz: If you had jumped off the roof, you would have been in a morgue not the ******* hospital.**

**Gilbert: Ja ja**

**Regis: ._. I don't remember high school being anything like this. What happened?**

**Roma: Neither do I :/ No clue**

**Cruz: Generation gap. :)**

**Alfred: XD**

**Roderich: -_- Are you okay Alfred?**

**Alfred: Yup!**

**Lovino: I have to talk to Smithy now. Excuse me.**

**Cruz: Smithy?**

**Roderich: I'm going to assume that was a misspelling.**

**Gilbert: XD**

.

.

* * *

…Well I couldn't keep it all the same. It would have gotten boring. =w=;


	6. Nurse is a tattletale

Okay so Tumblr broke, Sims 3 broke, and I have no further distractions from typing. =_= So here it goes. This chapter may seem written really weird, it's because I was writing it at the exact same time as Canadian Style. You will see why in a minute.

(Chapter re-done 4/15)

* * *

.

.

Antonio let out a heavy sigh. He could probably add 'apologize to Gilbert' on his growing list of things to do. Why did the police have to come by when they did? The talking, okay so it was more like venting, with Matthew had been cheering him up somewhat. Now it just felt like he had been slapped by somebody, and probably would even feel more so (assuming it was still metaphorical, but would probably end up physical) as soon as he got home. Certainly not looking forward to _that_ conversation!

Oh he could just hear his parents now. And he thought the lecture about the dance had been bad? Now he was really in for it!

"Antonio."

He was going to be lucky if he didn't get grounded until the turn of the century! And of course he probably wouldn't even be able to get a word in edge-wise until they had exhausted whatever they could possibly say to him. And by that point he would have forgotten what he was going to say anyway. _Hopefully I can hold my temper and not just tell them to shut up halfway through. That's just going to be asking to dig my own grave._

"Antonio."

Antonio let out a longer sigh. This day could just be scratched off the entire calendar as far as he was concerned. Hopefully his first couple teachers wouldn't ask him where he had been. The last thing he wanted to do was have to explain multiple times an excuse that even _he_ didn't think sounded convincing.

"_Antonio!_"

Worse yet, knowing his recent run of luck, Antonio would also find himself stuck in one heck of a lie. Because if you tell a story to one person, you have to keep it consistent. Otherwise when they talk to each other, you get caught. And get in _major_ trouble. And he was already in plenty of that. No need to dig that grave any deeper than it had to be (he'd really rather not dig one at all, but the way things are turning out at the moment…)

"Are you seriously trying to piss me off?!"

Maybe if he had any luck at all, there wouldn't be anyone in his next class from his little circle of friends. And if there was also any signs of caring from the powers-that-be, Lovino wouldn't be in this class. Of course, his luck sucked so far and the powers-that-be seemed to be ignoring him.

A sharp yank on his arm brought Antonio back to reality, and he quickly discovered Cruz was standing (and glaring) next to him.

"Oh hello." Antonio blinked a couple times, trying to get his mind back into the present, "Where did you come from?"

"I've _been_ here, apparently you were too caught up in your own damn head to realize that!" Cruz scowled at him, "I called your name three times!"

Antonio's face slowly flushed red, "Sorry. I was…thinking." That just sounded horrible, and apparently Cruz agreed with the thought because the radiating anger seemed to get worse by the second.

"Where the hell were you two at?" Cruz finally asked through gritted teeth. It looked like he had been about to say something else, probably nothing for the general public's ears to be hearing.

"Where were we…uh…" Antonio glanced around them, "Around." Of course there was nobody around to distract either of them from the conversation. Once again, the powers-that-be seemed to have handed him an anchor when he was searching for a lifeline.

"Hilarious." Cruz said flatly, "Is there an uncondensed version of this?"

"Nope." Antonio forced a cheerful smile. _Cruz must have been worried about Matthew since he skipped the assembly…_ "Just didn't want to attend the assembly, that's all."

"You didn't want to attend the first two classes either?" Cruz stared at him with an incredulous look on his face.

"And you're soon both going to be late to your third class. Come on you two, inside and find your seats!"

Antonio glanced up at the room number. Well, what were the odds of…crap. And of course Cruz had this class, too. _Okay. You all have proved your point that you hate me._ Antonio shot a glance upwards towards the ceiling before heading into the classroom. _Now please if there is any merciful being up there listening, don't let my seat be anywhere near him!_ He looked up at the seating chart, but it only took him a split second to find his name. First row (near the door luckily) right in front of Cruz. _Okay. Why do you all hate me? What did I do?!_

Cruz followed him to the back of the room, muttering what sounded like cursewords (probably directed at Antonio, though they could be at the teacher) under his breath.

"Good morning class! My name is Mrs. Thompson, and welcome to your Ancient Times class! Sad to say, I do not know any of the faces looking back at me but I'm sure I can learn them in no time! Now then…"

"What the hell were you two doing for so long?" Cruz asked, keeping his voice low so the teacher wouldn't overhear.

Antonio was hoping he could just ignore his cousin, pretend he didn't hear, but a sharp kick to the chair leg said otherwise. "What does it matter? We were talking and lost track of time!"

"I need all of you to fill out these forms for me please!" Their teacher handed stacks of papers to the student at the front of each row, seemingly oblivious to the whispering in the back corner.

"Talking about what?! You were gone for over two hours!" Cruz snapped, his voice was reaching breaking point, indicating that yelling was not far behind.

"Nothing." Antonio backfired and slammed a blank form on Cruz's desk, "Just drop it already!" His hand was practically stinging from the force of the desktop, and he could feel the stares from students around them, but mostly it was just the glare burning holes in the back of his head.

This was going to be an absolutely horrible day. Should have just gone back to bed the instant he woke up. He could have been spared this entire catastrophe.

"Please list the name of someone who can take your classwork home for you in case of an extended absence!"

Antonio hesitated, his pen hovering above the paper. Logically, Cruz would be the best option here since they lived in the same house. Definitely not using Lovino, and he really couldn't think of anyone else. Unless he used Roderich. _He_ was a lot more responsible than Cruz. So Roderich it was.

Antonio passed his form back to the front, after glancing at his phone to make sure he had the phone number copied right. Seeing a paper appear just above his shoulder, Antonio took it from the hand behind him and passed it up, not even bothering to see who Cruz had written down on his.

"What the hell is going on with you?"

Antonio curled his hands into fists and continued staring straight forward at the blackboard. He did not want to have this conversation with Cruz, and especially not in class! Not answering got him the same response as before: a kick to the chair. _Please let this be the only class I have with him._ And maybe their next classes would be in opposite directions… and while he was dreaming in futility, maybe the bullies from work wouldn't be in any of his classes.

"Oh who am I kidding." Antonio hit his head on his desk. He was doomed from the get go.

"Are you okay?"

Antonio lifted his now-bright-red-face up off the desk and smiled at the teacher, "I'm fine."

Cruz let out a snort but didn't say anything (thankfully).

Mrs. Thompson gave him a suspicious look, eyes narrowing as if she was trying to peer past the fake smile that Antonio had put on. She laid a textbook down on his desk and glanced around the classroom once more, "Please remember to write your names in these! It would be an absolute horror to find a book and not be able to return it!"

Absolute horror was another way to describe the day. And it wasn't even afternoon yet. Antonio looked at the name blank before writing "I. M. Doomed". The space for the year he left empty for the moment. He'd write in something else later. The pessimistic outlook on the school year just going by the first day probably wasn't helping his mood any. _I should find some way to cheer up…_

"Who are you kidding about what?" Cruz had leaned forward in his seat, apparently he had heard the comment made by Antonio just a minute earlier.

"Nothing." Antonio said flatly, "Would you seriously stop bugging me about it? Matthew didn't want to attend the assembly. That's the only reason we missed school!"

"I find that to be one hell of a dumb reason to skip two classes."

"That's because you criticize everything." Antonio retorted, without much pre-thought into what he was saying.

Cruz gave the chair another kick, with a bit more force behind it this time. _I wonder if my chair is going to last the entire year?_ Antonio tilted his head slightly.

"I do not, dumbass!" Cruz snapped.

Antonio made a face. It really was amazing that their teacher hadn't heard them yet, and judging by the desks around them (some of them were scooting away), other people thought so, too.

"Would you just leave me alone?" Antonio turned his head so he could half-glare at Cruz (really the best he could come up with at the moment).

"Evidently that's not an option for either of you. Could you take your argument into the hallway please?" Mrs. Thompson, having walked over to their desks, waved them both towards the door.

Cruz glared at her for a minute before grabbing his textbook and stalking out of the room.

_Oh now I'm really in for it._ Antonio followed his cousin into the hallway and looked back at the teacher who had followed them to the door.

"Principal or guidance. I don't care which. Move the argument down to one of those locations." Mrs. Thompson looked back and forth between the two before promptly shutting the door.

"Lasted two classes and part of a third. New record." Cruz grumbled with an air of sarcasm.

"Well if you had stopped asking me like I told you to, we wouldn't be sent down there!" Antonio stalked past him, pushing off the feeling that the heated glare was leaving. Going to be getting real used to that.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll try harder to suppress any would-be feelings of concern next time!" Cruz retorted, "At least apologize to your short boyfriend."

"Drop it."

"Excuse me? The guy was almost in tears first class!" Cruz followed along behind, trailing only three or four steps, "I'm not even going to mention what he did in _second_ bell."

"Drop it!" Antonio raised his voice, "I don't want to talk about this!"

"I thought it was because of Matthew you two missed half the morning?" Cruz reached out and grabbed Antonio's arm, "Who had the issue?"

Antonio stared at Cruz for a minute before yanking his arm free, "No one had an _issue_." He turned and started walking away again, half-expecting to get pulled back again.

"Obviously someone did. And it looks a hell of a lot like you right now!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Antonio protested, waving both arms around as if to illustrate his point. The only thing he was really doing was becoming hysterical.

"Apparently there is!" Cruz snapped.

"There isn't!" Antonio yelled, "There is nothing wrong with me! Just leave me alone already!"

Silence fell in the hall as the two glared at each other. Cruz looked about ready to make a retort when a soft creak, indicating a door being opened, came from behind Antonio. They both glanced over and saw Miss Summers peering out, "Um…you two are disrupting classes…"

"Sorry." Antonio's face turned red once more.

"Not sorry." Cruz grumbled.

"Could you at least keep your voices down please?" She glanced back and forth between the two, a concerned look on her face.

"Yes ma'am." Antonio hurried down the hall, his face still burning from embarrassment. He haven't even _meant_ to yell.

"Not even going to try and promise." Cruz grumbled, but skulked after Antonio.

_Well that's just terrific. Now just about everybody heard us fighting._ Antonio made it to the office in what was probably record time for him. He'd rather see the principal than pay another visit to Roma's office.

"Reason for your visit?" Miss Kia raised an eyebrow, no doubt wondering how he managed to get himself sent down here so soon.

"My cousin." Antonio answered flatly. Thankfully, Cruz hadn't made it into the office yet to hear his response.

The secretary let out a large sigh and leaned over to knock on the door, "Mr. Smith. Antonio and your usual to see you."

"Oh how cute. I'm a usual." Cruz stepped into the office at that point and glared at the secretary.

"You and your attitude both." Antonio grumbled under his breath.

"I'm not the one who was just yelling in the hallway!" Cruz retorted.

"Both of you in. I don't care if he didn't say anything yet, I'm not listening to a fight." Miss Kia motioned towards the door with an impatient gesture, "Talk it out with the principal!"

.

.

* * *

Lovino scrambled across the school grounds to where the teacher was handing out bands of two colors to the rest of the class.

Mr. Ross turned and stared at him with a blank expression, "…You were the one on the…"

"Shut it." Lovino yanked the blue sash from his outstretched hand.

Lovino grumbled under his breath while he tied the piece of cloth on his arm. This was just damn peachy. And for some reason it felt like someone was glaring at him. Lovino glanced around the students mingling, but couldn't see who it was. _Strange. Who the hell did I piss off?_

"If your band is pulled off, you're frozen! You have to steal a band of your own color without moving in order to be unfrozen!"

_This is bullcrap._ Lovino cursed under his breath as he backed up with the rest of his teammates. He still hadn't figured out who was glaring at him.

"Okay, get ready! Get set…" Mr. Ross blew the whistle that was hanging around his neck.

_Great. Nothing like playing a freaking elementary game on the first day of school._ Lovino weaved around his classmates, trying to keep an eye on who was around him. If he stayed near other people of his own 'color' maybe he could get through this unscathed. Better yet, maybe he could just hide somewhere. But he'd have to make it to the trees that were planted alongside the school building somehow.

Feeling a tugging on the cloth band, Lovino turned his head and stared in speechless shock at the male who had yanked his band off. Not only had it taken him completely by surprise since it had come from behind, but the person who was now standing there holding the sash was another shock. He couldn't even recover fast enough to yank it back before he got hit in the back of the head.

"_That's_ for upsetting Antonio." Matthew glared at him before vanishing back into the group of students.

Well. That answered any lingering doubts on why Antonio hadn't been in school this morning. Also answered the question on who had been glaring at him since the start of class. Unfortunately he didn't have an answer to make the gnawing feeling of _guilt_ go away.

Lovino glanced around him in half-desperation, half-annoyance of not wanting to stand in one spot for the rest of the class period, and saw opportunity coming in the form of Cruz's ex-girlfriend. _They're actually on the same team. Somehow I doubt Matthew knows this, because he would have switched sides already._ He reached out while she was looking in the opposite direction and yanked both bands off her arm, "Tag."

Darting off, he left her behind in one spot, and rolled his eyes as he heard her cursing behind him. How did Cruz even like that girl to begin with? No rules had been said about yanking both colors at one time, so why not? Might as well solve the problem in one fell swoop. _Now where the heck is Matthew?_

He stopped momentarily and spotted the blonde successfully stopping another one of his teammates. Quickly sprinting after him, Lovino tried to pay more attention than he had the first time so he didn't get stopped in his tracks a second time (even though on this attempt he wasn't trying to head for somewhere to hide).

Lovino swore inwardly. He never knew Matthew could run so damn fast! _Why isn't he on the stupid track team?!_ Maybe he just ran like that when he had motivation. Though now that he thought about it, Matthew would never try out for any sports team. He didn't like gym class, much less participating in sport events. Lovino spun around one of Matthew's teammates who had attempted to grab his sash and yanked the blue one off him instead, "You made a decent attempt."

Targeting one person certainly made things easier, but did not make anything less challenging. It was becoming impossible to tell who was on what team, as almost everyone had both colors tied to their arms (except for the ones who were frozen of course). _Well if they keep running after the blue band is taken, they're on my team._

Lovino glared at the female who was sprinting with a vengeance behind him, "I'm beginning to see why Cruz dumped you! You're completely psycho!" He snapped, dodging a lunge from Maria.

"Oh hilarious!" Maria retorted, recovering quick enough to make a second swipe at his arm.

She came away with empty air, but left Lovino with scratch marks from her fake nails. It made Lovino wish he had left his sweater on instead of just depositing it in his locker earlier. "Nice." Lovino scowled and yanked the blue sash off her arm, "You're obviously a threat to other players with those nails."

"Oh whatever!" Maria tried to grab it back, but Lovino backed up and held it away from her.

"No moving your feet." Lovino reminded her, "So stand there and behave."

"Jerk." Maria made another swipe, leaving another set of marks on his arm.

"Do you sharpen those claws on purpose? Hook your claws and don't let go?" Lovino rubbed his arm angrily, "Geez!"

Lovino hit Maria with his hand, leaving a stinging red mark on the side of her face, "Why don't you grow the hell up and stop clawing me?!"

Maria's eyes narrowed and she acted like she was going to slap him in return (which might have been the intent, except some of her fake nails had loosened in the clawing of his arm and raked the side of his face where she had made contact). Lovino remained silent for a split second before yelling at her, "YOU JUST CLAWED MY FACE YOU MORON!"

Before he could even step towards her (unfortunately), Mr. Ross quickly pulled Lovino out of her reach, "Now let's both calm down here!"

"Short-tempered jerk!" Maria hissed, rubbing the side of her face.

"That's quite enough!" Mr. Ross snapped at her, "Take your attitude to the office!"

Lovino glared at her as Maria stalked off. She probably wasn't even going to go to the office, not that he really cared, as long as she was out of his face.

"You should head to the nurse. Some of those cuts are bleeding." Mr. Ross turned his gaze to Lovino, at least the tone wasn't as sharp, but Lovino sure as hell wasn't about to go where he was told to either.

Lovino glared at the teacher in response before leaving the field. He threw the bands he was wearing in the box that had been set by the wall and shoved the school door open in an angry flair. _Mental note to tell Cruz that his taste in women sucks!_

Stalking down the hallway, Lovino didn't pay much attention to where he was headed, just made sure he was going in the general direction of the stairs to get back up to the correct floor for his other classes. Why did the senior classes have to be on the upper floors anyway? Nothing like running down a flight of steps before gym and running _up_ a flight of stairs after gym! Muttering under his breath, he continued on his way, not noticing that he had a follower a few feet behind.

Lovino shoved open the first bathroom door he came to. Like hell he was going to the nurse. He glared at the red marks on his reflection's cheek. _Damn idiot_. Turning the faucet on, Lovino waved a hand underneath the water flow, waiting for it to be at least semi-warm. Considering it felt more like the water had come straight from the Arctic Ocean, he probably shouldn't be holding out much hope.

Nonetheless, Lovino continued waving his hand back and forth, glaring at the mirror in the meantime. Sometimes he really _was_ like Cruz, Lovino realized. They both certainly didn't get along with Maria (though Lovino couldn't think of anyone who _did_), and, like Cruz, Lovino had lost his temper and took it out on the person he was dating.

_Moron._ Lovino shook his head, giving up on the possibility of getting warm water. He yanked a paper towel from the dispenser and held it under the faucet for a few seconds. Of all the people he had to learn behavior from, he had to pick it up from Cruz. Maybe it was because Feliciano was like Antonio? They were both airheads at least.

Lovino pressed the wet towel to his cheek, wiping away the droplets of red that had appeared. _Stupid idiot… you couldn't be nice _one_ time, could you?_

"...Lovino?"

Lovino moved the wet cloth to his arm, dabbing at the red marks with care. He was trying to ignore the blonde standing nearby. Definitely did not want company at the moment, and especially not Matthew's company. Yes, he had been chasing him during gym, but he wasn't even sure what he would say had he actually caught up!

If the scratches hurt that much, you really should see the nurse." Matthew's voice remained quiet.

"They don't." Lovino grumbled, turning his head further away from the blonde.

"I'm not apologizing."

Lovino glared at the paper towel dispenser, not even turning his head towards the mirror to look at Matthew through the reflection, "I wasn't looking for an apology." And he really hadn't been. Better that someone had been with Antonio rather than leave him by himself (like Lovino had).

There was a few more minutes of silence before a soft, "You're crying though…" broke it. Did he even have to bring that up?

Lovino scowled, "Have you seen the state of this bathroom? It's enough to make anyone cry! And hot water apparently doesn't even exist in here!" He waved the wet paper towel in the direction of the sink he was standing at.

"Well no, if you want hot water, you have to use the first sink." Matthew responded, "It was like that last year."

Lovino stared at his reflection. The scratches on his cheek had begun to bleed again, "…Well excuse me for being an idiot."

Matthew was silent for a few more minutes before speaking up once more, "It could stand to have a little cleaning."

"Huh?" Lovino turned his head to look at him in confusion. Talk about jumping the conversation around!

"The bathroom." Matthew answered, "There's even dust on the windowsills."

"Pretty sure that's not all dust." Lovino grumbled, looking over to their left.

"Some bug and spider corpses?" Matthew leaned against the sink.

Lovino blinked a few times before reaching in his pocket and pulling out a miniature black marker. He was slightly surprised he hadn't managed to lose it, but walked over to the side of one of the bathroom stalls and began writing giant letters that spelled out 'CLEAN ME' on the side.

"What are you…" Matthew started, "…You're going to get in trouble."

"Like I care. It'll be worth the trip to the office. Unlike that last one." Lovino shoved the marker back in his pocket, "Well obviously these are not gonna stop bleeding anytime soon." He flung his wet towel into the trashcan and headed towards the door.

"The nurse has bandaids…"

"I am not going down there. She'll tell grandpa!" Lovino stalked out of the bathroom, with Matthew following close behind.

Matthew winced at the reminder when Lovino referred to his relative, "I've already seen him one more time than I wanted to already."

"Updating you on new policies?" Lovino questioned.

"Yeah…and to tell us that he called our parents…or somebody had." Matthew sighed.

"You should be happy it was before you guys got there and not after."

"He said he was going to let it slide this time…only this time…but as long as it doesn't happen a second time we're fine!"

Lovino stopped in his tracks and turned to stare at Matthew, "…"

"What?" Matthew blinked, also coming to a halt to avoid running into him.

"That's what he said? You…don't seriously believe that do you?" Lovino stared at him in complete disbelief. Of all the people to actually…

"Eh?" Matthew felt himself starting to panic, "Sh-should we not have?"

Lovino looked upwards towards the ceiling, feeling more exasperated than he had been earlier, "I should offer him congratulations."

"What?!" Matthew panicked.

Lovino took out his phone and typed in a short message in the chatroom they were all in.

**Lovino: Congrats Grandpa.**

**Roma: Hm? On what?**

**Lovino: ._. Someone actually believed your bull******

The look on Matthew's face was hilarious as he read the messages Lovino had just typed.

**Roma: Whatever are you talking about?**

**Matthew: Ehh! Wait, you didn't call our parents right?**

**Roma: I said I had no desire to.**

Lovino just watched as Matthew typed frantically into his phone, putting his own cell back in his pocket. All that experience had really done himself some good. At least he knew when Roma was lying (or stretching the truth a bit).

Matthew looked up from his phone with a sigh of relief, pocketing it once more, "I think we're safe in that regard."

"Really." Lovino just stared at him with a blank expression.

"He says he didn't call them." Matthew looked at him with a much calmer expression than he had been wearing before the texts.

As much as he absolutely hated to be a damper on Matthew's relief, Lovino just shook his head, "No. He didn't."

"Eh? Yes he—"

"No, grandpa said he had said he _didn't want to_ call. He never said he _didn't_ call." Lovino sighed, "I can't believe someone actually fell for that."

Matthew stared at him blankly for a minute before realization dawned on his face.

"You really should watch out for the way he words his sentences. For future reference." Lovino commented, and started to walk away again.

"Wait! Does that mean he _is_ going to call them?" Matthew panicked and ran after him.

"If he hasn't already, there's a good chance of it. Grandpa has zero tolerance for certain things. He really is a hypocrite…" Lovino muttered the last sentence under his breath.

"Oh…I need to warn Antonio then!" Matthew let out a long sigh, "Craaaap…"

"Warn me about what?"

Lovino stared blankly at Antonio and Cruz. They just appeared out of _nowhere_ and weren't they supposed to be in class? At least he and Matthew had an excuse!

"Uh…about…" Matthew started speaking up, but Lovino saw Cruz's gaze focus on him instead with an intent expression.

"What the hell happened to your face?"

Lovino scowled in response, "Your taste in women sucks!"

"Maria did that?" Antonio looked between Matthew and Lovino.

"Souphead." Cruz repeated, though it sounded more of a question than a statement.

"Clawgirl." Matthew corrected.

Lovino swiped at the cold feeling that was running down the side of his face. Definitely still bleeding, now it was on his hand.

"Just go to the nurse please!" Matthew pleaded, half-tugging on Lovino's sleeve.

"No." Lovino snapped, and started off down the hall, with the intent of going to his next class (whatever the hell it was).

"You two talk about whatever you needed to." Cruz's voice came from behind him before Lovino realized he was now being yanked off in the direction of the nurse's office.

"I am not going down there!" Lovino yelled.

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I re-did this chapter because I didn't like having Antonio being the majority of Awesome Style =w=


	7. Change of topic? What change of topic?

Lovino Style got edited quite a bit, mostly in the previous chapter due to my not being happy with overall layout of some of the fanfics. :)

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Lovino stared at his phone, while Cruz was busy cursing out the teacher for making him wear something as stupid as an apron. He hadn't even glanced in the box in front of him before his phone had started going off. _…I royally screwed up._ Lovino re-read the message on the screen. _Big time._ Lovino looked up, staring past the teacher as she was attempting to calm Cruz down (who wasn't having any of it). _Now what do I do?_

"If you think I'm wearing this damn thing…" Cruz started.

"Oh now calm down! It's just an apron!" Miss Summers sighed, "It's not as if I gave you something to wear on your head, too! I've had less arguments from males who ended up with flower prints!"

Cruz stared at her with a horrified expression, "Well that's their problem, not mine! I don't wear aprons! And I sure as hell don't bake!"

Lovino would be finding this conversation absolutely hilarious if he were paying any more attention to it. He glanced back down at the phone (again) and hovered his thumb over the reply button. _What the hell am I supposed to say?_

_**Antonio: Since we appear to be in a non-agreeable state of words right now…**_

_**Should we break 'us' off until we can figure out what it is that we're doing?**_

_**Maybe it'll help us get whatever problems we're both having under control so we're not arguing with each other.**_

Lovino let out a long sigh. It was for the best right? And it must be something that Antonio wanted, otherwise he wouldn't have suggested it. _And he did word it with some room to interpret that we could get back together later…_ Lovino frowned slightly. Still didn't have a clue on how to respond. _Stop putting yourself first, Lovino!_ He shook his head before exiting out of the message screen and to his status updates.

_No matter how much I don't want to…_ Lovino closed his eyes, willing himself to take a few deep breaths before typing on the screen, pausing only to steel himself before pressing enter again.

**Lovino has changed his relationship status to single**

Lovino put the cell phone back in his pocket and just buried his face in his hands. _I feel like shit now!_

Cruz raised an eyebrow (now that the teacher had wandered away) and took out his phone upon hearing the message chime go off. He stared at the display for less than a minute before cursing under his breath.

"What the hell is that about?" Cruz hissed to Lovino, trying not to get the teacher's attention.

Lovino just shook his head. _Don't talk to me… don't talk to me… I don't want to talk right now…_

Cruz, getting even more irate than he had been before, glared at the phone as Antonio's status updated as a result of Lovino's change, "What the hell are you two breaking up for?"

Lovino lifted his head to see Miss Summers all-too-happily explaining something on the paper. Either it was his imagination or she was explaining something she had already gone over. _She's really bad at pretending she can't hear a conversation going on._

"Hey." Cruz leaned over, "Lovino."

Lovino winced as Cruz's voice got less angry and more concerned. _Shut uppppppp…_ Lovino felt the corner of his eyes sting and promptly stood up. _And I sure as hell am not crying in class!_ He all but ran out of the room, not even making it ten feet down the hallway before he curled up on the floor next to the lockers. _THIS SUCKS._

"Oh dear. Cruz, could you take him to the nurse? He must not be feeling well." Miss Summers waved the other male out of the room (who really had been about to leave whether he had permission or not).

Cruz grumbled under his breath and stalked out, leaving everything but his phone on the table. _Going to be a regular down there, too!_ He spotted Lovino on the floor and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At least he hadn't gone back up to the roof, "Well this is just damn peachy. I'm not learning a thing in class yet." He sat down beside Lovino and stretched out his legs in front of him.

Lovino looked up momentarily, enough for Cruz to see he had been crying, before burying his face again, "Oh my god…"

Comfort was definitely not something Cruz did on a regular basis, and today was completely breaking the average of doing so, "Well whenever you feel like saying whatever is going on. I don't see how I can be of much help otherwise."

"It's pretty damn obvious what happened." Lovino responded flatly, "I snapped his head off and he got upset about it! What other way is there view the entire morning?!"

"Looks more like you both got upset." Cruz pointed out flatly, "You were on the roof."

"You don't need to remind me." Lovino looked away, "Damn principal."

Cruz leaned his head back against the lockers. Only way he was going to help at all was just to be a silent listener for this one. Especially since he still had no clue what the hell was going on.

"I don't know what to do anymore!" Lovino gestured wildly with both arms, "He keeps comparing me to you, no offense." He added hastily.

Cruz turned a half-glare towards Lovino, biting back the retort that almost came out.

"And he keeps bringing up how much you two don't get along!" Lovino continued.

Cruz stayed silent for a minute before he could reel in his temper from the previous comment, "We're opposites. They only attract in a romantic sense."

Lovino let out a short laugh, "Yeah, it did a lot for us. And it did a lot for you and Matthew. Opposites only attract when the opposites aren't fucking screwed up."

Cruz looked back at Lovino. This guy was way off the deep end. "Who are you calling screwed up?" He scowled for a second before smacking Lovino on the back of the head, "You don't have to dump the relationship because of one stupid argument."

"Antonio's the one who suggested it."

Cruz froze for a split second, "Wait. …" He blinked a few times, trying to process what he had just heard before he shook his head, "Well you didn't have to agree to it!"

"He didn't want to go out anymore, at least not at the moment. I'm not going to force him to!" Lovino flailed his arms around before hitting his forehead to his knees, "Why do I have to be such an idiot…"

"You know you're allowed to say no to things like that right?"

"I know that."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I just said why."

Both teens let out long exasperated sighs. Neither one of them was making much headway in the conversation.

"Text him or something?" Cruz finally suggested.

"And say what? I couldn't even respond to the first message he sent me!" Lovino cried, "My brain shut down!"

"You really should talk to him." Cruz frowned, "If it hurt that much, you shouldn't have changed your status."

"He wants to take a break."

"We just discussed this!" Cruz buried his face in his arms in frustration. Lack of experience in the subject matter was not helping this conversation at all.

"Maybe this'll help him with whatever problems he was having…" Lovino traced circles into the floor tile next to him.

"Only if those problems were you." Cruz snapped, "Which I seriously doubt."

Lovino hugged his knees to his chest, "Too bad those aliens aren't real…I could use an abduction right about now…"

Cruz could've easily come up with a retort to that comment, but instead just pulled Lovino into an awkward one-armed hug. _Where is someone else who can actually talk to people about things like this when you need them? I SUCK AT THIS._

"I don't even understand this anymore…" Lovino sighed, not pulling away at all, much to Cruz's surprise.

"Don't understand what?" Cruz looked upwards towards the ceiling.

"Two years." Lovino said flatly, "Two stupid years. And I haven't changed at all. I still can't open my mouth when something's bothering me."

"Well you're hardly alone in that." Cruz said flatly, thinking of Matthew, "I don't think a single one of you can yet."

Lovino let out a quiet sigh and shifted a bit so his position would be a bit more comfortable, but still made no move to get off Cruz's shoulder, "Maybe grandpa should have listened to what he was saying…"

"What." Cruz said blankly. He had completely lost the connection in conversation now.

"He said we should try talking to our parents more." Lovino commented, "It didn't have to be about the problems we were having, how we were feeling, or anything. Just talk to them in general. But…he won't. He won't say anything to mom or dad, not unless they talk to him first. He's as bad as we are…"

"What happened with that? He was talking to them last year wasn't he?" Cruz asked in confusion.

"He and grandma divorced towards the beginning of summer. He didn't tell them why, but dad let him stay at our place, even though he insisted he could get a place on his own."

"Oh is that why he lives with you." Cruz paused for a moment, "But wouldn't the conversation have come up at some point? After three or four months of living there?"

"He keeps making excuses and either leaves the room or redirects the conversation." Lovino made a face, "After all these years, it's a practice he's become quite good at."

"I'm going to assume with that last comment, that the marriage has been crappy for a while before this." Cruz shook his head with a sigh.

"If dad hadn't been there, I don't think they would have lasted a year married to one another."

Cruz blanked at that, "Why the hell would they marry in the first place then?!"

"I just said. Because of dad. Grandpa was doing what he thought was right." Lovino sat up straight again, getting a numb feeling through his feet as a result of leaning over for so long, "Even though he was still in love with gargoyle-face at the time."

"Okay, you lost me again. Who is gargoyle-face?" Cruz moved his hand around, trying to get the feeling to come back.

"Gilbert's dad." Lovino smiled slightly.

Cruz let out a snort, "Suitable name. Gilbert would be ecstatic."

"He has like two facial expressions!" Lovino exclaimed, "I don't know how those three survived their childhood without being traumatized!"

Cruz burst out laughing, "Well Ludwig and Shorty would be the only ones with trauma. Gilbert didn't grow up with his dad."

"Right. Keep forgetting that. Maybe that's why Ludwig and Ardrich have the same face… they grew up seeing it all the time." Lovino frowned slightly.

"Maybe." Cruz agreed. He turned towards Lovino, "Hey. You changed the topic."

"Did I?" Lovino looked upwards towards the ceiling, "Hm. The tiles look water damaged."

Cruz looked up, falling for the distraction, "Yeah they…would you stop that." He scowled at Lovino.

Lovino smiled again but blinked when the bell rang. It didn't feel like they had been sitting that long.

Cruz watched as people went by them, glaring at people who gave them confused glances, "What the hell are you staring at?!"

"The two people sitting in the hallway." Lovino said flatly.

"I'm not sorry. I hope the gawkers trip and fall flat on their stupid faces." Cruz scowled.

"If you don't pull your legs in, you'll probably get your wish." Lovino commented, "Though I suppose we should be getting to class."

"Or we can continue sitting here and you can finish what you were saying." Cruz glared at him.

"…" Lovino looked in the opposite direction, "Am I allowed to say no to that?"

"No." Cruz gave him a light shove, "Now finish what you were saying!"

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Yeah the 'couples' bounced into each other's fanfics in this chapter. Sorry about that.


	8. Breaking out of the principal's office

…They seem to be bouncing back and forth again. Oh well. It can't really be helped when they have classes together. = w =

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Lovino watched students mill around them, not really noticing any face in particular, except for the slightly annoyed one sitting to his left.

"…So your grandparents got divorced because there was nothing there?" Cruz finally asked.

"They got a divorce because grandpa couldn't love someone who was never at home." Lovino commented quietly, "And it wasn't really hard to figure out she'd been having an affair for some time."

"Oh that's nice." Cruz said sarcastically.

Lovino rested his chin on his arms and stared across the hall, which was now becoming empty as students found their way to their classes, "He hid it for a while, I guess he didn't want dad to find out. It was something that bothered dad for the longest time. It was like grandpa was a single father while dad was growing up."

Cruz blinked a couple times, trying to imagine Roma raising a child. _That image isn't appearing. Probably for good reason._

"He tried." Lovino said quietly, "But in the end… he finally ended up at the realization that he had to let go."

"What made him realize that?" Cruz looked back at the Italian.

"He didn't want to be the person holding someone back from being with the person they loved."

"Never mind the fact that he dumped the person _he_ loved." Cruz said flatly.

"Grandpa is grandpa. That's just the way he is." Lovino smiled slightly, "Maybe that's why he always comes back after arguing with dad… I guess he really doesn't have anyone else."

"And that's just sad." Cruz hung his head in disbelief.

Lovino let out a short laugh, "Yeah it is. It's pathetic." He shook his head, "I wish dad would give grandpa a break. He's become so accustomed to hiding the truth, I think he forgot how to speak up."

"This is sounding like it can be applied to more than one person now." Cruz muttered.

"I take after grandpa." Lovino waved his hands in a mock cheer, "Go me."

"…Right down to dumping the person you loved." Cruz stated flatly.

"Except there is no other person for me to be with." Lovino shrugged, "Meh. Two broken hearts, one argument, and can't talk to dad. Still a bunch of similarities."

"I'm amazing Regis and Roma can even talk to each other." Cruz scoffed.

"So am I." Lovino leaned his head against the wall behind them, "Maybe it's because Gilbert's mother keeps convincing Regis to start a conversation."

"She knew Roma, too?"

"Yeah. They were friends for a long time before they even started college."

"Hm." Cruz just nodded, "…The moment when you realize that your friend's parents were best friends with your grandfather and are the same age…"

"Yeah." Lovino rubbed the back of his head, "It's hard to believe at times. Grandpa shows his age more than Gilbert's parents do."

"…Physically. Not mentally." Cruz grumbled, "That man can act like a five-year-old!"

Lovino glanced down the hall past Cruz, "…Yeah he can. He's doing a fine job."

Cruz looked at Lovino questioningly before following his gaze, "…Nice."

Just down the hall at the classroom they had both been in, Roma was leaning in the doorframe, chatting away to Miss Summers, who was cheerfully engaging in the conversation, despite having a classroom full of students behind her.

"Grandpaaaaa…you're gonna get fired!" Lovino sighed.

"…She isn't going to tell him we're down here, is she?" Cruz tilted his head.

"…" Lovino paled slightly, "Crap. Run for it." He got up and ran in the opposite direction, with Cruz hastily following, muttering out curse words at how fast Lovino had split.

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"Hey." Cruz looked at Lovino, "Whose brilliant idea was this?"

"Oh shut up." Lovino scowled, "Like you really care if the principal gets mad."

"Yeah well, I'm relatively certain he doesn't want you back up here." Cruz crossed his arms and leaned against the railing.

"I'm on this side of it this time." Lovino shrugged, looking upwards towards the sky, "Besides, it feels nice out here!"

"I suppose." Cruz glanced down at the school grounds, watching the students run around, "Heh. They're playing the same game we were."

Lovino turned and glanced down, "Yeah… gah. Don't remind me of gym and your crappy ex-girlfriend."

"I can't stand her." Cruz muttered.

"Why did you even date her?" Lovino scowled, rubbing at the side of his face where the scratch marks were.

"Clearly a lapse in judgment." Cruz leaned away from the railing and took a seat by Lovino.

"Do tell."

Lovino blinked and turned his gaze towards the door, "…"

"Hm?" Cruz looked over and saw the principal leaning in the doorframe, "Oh gee. Right on time."

"Must we have this conversation more than once today, Mr. Vargas?"

"That makes me sound old…" Lovino whispered.

Cruz smirked and looked back at his friend, "He's ignoring me!"

"Like hell I am! Get your rear ends off the roof!" Mr. Smith pointed at the open door.

"…Get my rear end…" Cruz looked at him in disbelief, "You did not just say that."

"Just move." Lovino sighed, getting back up, "I should have taken my chances in the hallway."

"Really." Cruz followed behind Lovino back down the steps, "This is my second trip down there now!"

Lovino grinned, "Well hey, it's my second, too! And for the exact same reason!"

"That's not something to be proud of!" Mr. Smith snapped.

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"Sometimes I wonder about my sense of judgment." Cruz said flatly.

"Sometimes?" Lovino questioned.

Both of them sat in the hard plastic chairs in the office, waiting while Mr. Smith ran off to do goodness-knows-what. He had said something about having a student in the conference room doing him a favor and off he had went.

Roma skipped in and paused to stare at the two, "…? What are you two doing down here?"

Miss Kia looked up with a frown, "They were on the roof. Again."

"I was up there once today." Cruz argued.

"Twice." Lovino raised his hand.

"Loviiiii…you do realize he's going to call your parents." Roma sighed.

"He's what." Lovino stared at his grandfather, "Waiiiiit! For being on the damn roof?! That's not even on the school rules that we can't be up there!"

"There's a household I don't want to be anywhere near tonight." Cruz laughed.

"If a student is in the office two or more times, the principal may choose to notify parents." Roma paused by the mail cubbies to pick up an envelope out of his, "That's in the guidelines."

"…Shit." Cruz swore, "Now I'm in trouble!"

"You don't have to listen, right? They're not your parents." Lovino pointed out.

"…Good point." Cruz leaned back in his chair, "Saved…"

Roma frowned, "I wouldn't look it at that way."

"Says the person who said he wasn't listening to a lecture from his son." Lovino muttered.

"That was from a father to his son, not from an uncle to his nephew." Roma waved his hand nonchalantly while Mr. Smith came back in the room.

Mr. Smith stared pointedly at Roma, "And you and I need to have a talk then."

"What did I do?" Roma flailed his arms around before hastily making his departure back to the guidance offices.

"…" Lovino watched him vanish from sight, "…he's fast."

"Only when he wants to be." Mr. Smith stalked by the two teenagers, "In." He motioned to both of them and held the door open.

"Can you just summarize this?" Cruz grumbled, stalking into the inner office.

"Can I just assume it's the same as last time?" Lovino followed Cruz.

"Can you comedians shut it!" Mr. Smith snapped, closing the door behind himself. He stalked over to his desk and pulled out a file folder, scanning through the documents inside much to both of their confusion.

_What the hell is that thing?_ Cruz raised an eyebrow, exchanging a just-as-confused-glance with Lovino.

Pulling out two pieces of paper, the principal handed them each one as well as a pen, "Have fun." He walked back out of the room and shut the door behind him again.

"Huh?" Cruz looked back at the closed door, hearing the principal tell the secretary to not let them leave until the papers were filled out.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lovino yelled at the closed door, "Like hell I'm filling this out!"

Cruz looked down at the paper, "…?"

**Reasons for my showing signs of emotional distress**

Cruz calmly set the pencil and paper down on the principal's desk and just folded his hands in his lap, "Well I guess I have a long wait until that dumbass comes back."

"I am not showing signs of emotional distress! Screw you people!" Lovino flung his pencil at the door and let the paper fall to the floor.

"Uh…you were crying." Cruz said quietly.

"Shut up." Lovino crossed his arms and sulked in the chair, "I had a valid reason."

"Yeah yeah." Cruz propped his feet up on Mr. Smith's desk and made himself comfortable, "Well. Wake me when he gets here. Unless you want to talk or something."

"We're going to get in trouble…" Lovino sighed but didn't make any move to retrieve his pencil or the paper, "Craaap…"

"I'm not worried about it. If he was going to call home, he would have already." Cruz shrugged with his eyes closed.

"I suppose." Lovino stretched out his legs in front of him, though he didn't put his feet up on the desk like Cruz had.

Pulling out his phone, Lovino updated his status and waited calmly for any would-be responses.

**Lovino: Just hanging out in the principal's office. This is nice.**

**Roderich: ._. Again? Now what for?**

**Lovino: I was on the roof.**

**Roderich: AGAIN?**

**Cruz: I was up there too. Nice view.**

**Roderich: -_-**

**Gilbert: :D Prison break!**

**Cruz: Great. Get down here. The secretary won't let us leave.**

**Lovino: we're gonna get in so much trouble…**

**Roderich: Common sense prevails.**

**Lovino: No, it was more of a comment. I'm willing to give it a shot.**

**Gilbert: XD**

**Roderich: -_-**

Lovino glanced towards the side of the room, "Hey…"

"Hm?" Cruz looked up from his phone.

"There are windows in here."

"Yeah, so?" Cruz glanced at them.

Lovino got up and pushed open one of the windows, "And we're on the ground floor."

"You're not seriously suggesting skipping out?" Cruz started laughing.

"Well obviously my being here isn't helping me at all." Lovino hoisted himself up and over the windowsill, "I'm out of here."

"Wait up." Cruz followed and easily rolled over the window's edge, "What?"

"Must be nice to not be short." Lovino glared up at him before stalking off, "Let's get the hell out of here before he realizes we left."

"Coming." Cruz followed along behind him.

Lovino peered around the corner at the entrance stairs, "…we could just go back in the building and head to the cafeteria. Lunchtime."

"Could." Cruz also peered around, "Would probably get in less trouble."

"I'm not all that hungry though." Lovino made a face.

"Probably should just head for our next class considering the time." Cruz glanced at the display on his phone.

"I have psychology next…" Lovino glanced at the crumpled class schedule he had pulled from his pocket.

"Huh? So do I." Cruz blinked.

"With study hall after."

"…Same."

"What the hell. We're together for the last four classes?" Lovino looked at Cruz's schedule.

"Oh great. I assume that'll be changed once a certain principal realizes we made a break for it. He's going to think I'm a bad influence."

"Pft." Lovino headed for the front steps, "Might as well get another textbook."

"Yeah, to throw it at the door we'll no doubt be stuck behind again." Cruz grumbled.

"So we'll just climb out the window again." Lovino pushed open the entrance doors and headed into the lobby, with Cruz following only a couple steps behind.

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I can't be the only one who's wanted to stage a break-out at the principal's office. XD


	9. Family day: Hang in there grandpa!

Classes are getting repetitive and I don't really feel like typing up two more classes, so insert time skip here.

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Lovino leaned against the wall in the office while the principal continued yelling at him and the male standing next to him (with a just-as-bored-expression on his face). Honestly, he had stopped listening shortly after the 'you should know better than to pull a stunt like that at this age!'. _He's doing a fine job of making me sound old._

Cruz kept making comments now and then, showing that he at least was listening, but the comments were only serving to make the lecture longer (by a _lot_).

"You're both seniors and you're acting like grade-school students!" Mr. Smith continued.

"If grade-school students acted like we do, I would take that to mean that there are some serious problems with those kids." Cruz snapped, "Don't give me that crap."

Lovino just buried his face in his hands and shook his head. Apparently he and the principal both translated that to the same meaning because it started a whole different rant.

"Furthermore, if you two are having problems, we have guidance counselors for a reason!"

Cruz just stared blankly at the adult, trying to comprehend how the conversation had jumped from a lecture to whatever this was now.

"I'm full aware you people have counselors. I'm related to one of them." Lovino commented sarcastically, "And speaking of…"

Mr. Smith turned and glared at Roma, who promptly halted upon seeing the look on his face, "What did I do now?"

"Ready to go when you are!" Lovino waved cheerfully, causing Cruz to burst out laughing.

"This lecture. Is not over." Mr. Smith glared at both of them warningly before stalking into his office and slamming the door behind him.

"Loviiiii…you're going to get me in trouble!" Roma cried but wandered over to where his grandson and friend were standing.

"You were already in trouble for flirting with a teacher who was supposed to be teaching at the time." Lovino grumbled, "Can we just go home now."

"I was not flirting…" Roma tailed along after Lovino, with Cruz shuffling along behind, "Are you walking? Do you want a ride?" He glanced back at Cruz curiously.

"I can walk." Cruz shrugged.

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"I said I can walk!" Cruz argued while Roma sped down the road, "Your driving is making me sick!"

Lovino just half-leaned out the window, watching the buildings speed by, "It doesn't even bother me anymore…"

"There is nothing wrong with my driving!" Roma called to the passenger in the back before parking on the curb in front of the Carreido household, "Ta-da!"

"I'm not even going to attempt to argue with you about the speed limit signs. Or that you're on the sidewalk." Cruz climbed out of the car, and glared at both males in the front, "Thanks for the ride. I think."

"No problem!" Roma waved cheerfully.

"Have fun. Good luck." Lovino gave a non-energetic wave before the car went speeding off again.

"…I hope they get home in one piece." Cruz winced as the car screeched around a corner, "Seriously…" He sighed and headed towards the house. _I wonder if Antonio is even home yet…_ He paused on the porch, remembering that they hadn't really been getting along earlier. _…Maybe I'll just hang out in the backyard for a while._

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Lovino kicked open the front door, grumbling under his breath, "You went around that corner on two tires!"

"All four tires were on the road!" Roma laughed, ruffling Lovino's hair, "You worry too much!"

"For someone who was in a car accident, one would think you'd be a little more careful with your driving…" Lovino sighed and swatted Roma's hand away.

"That accident wasn't even my fault." Roma pouted and peered into the closet, "Nobody else here…"

"Maybe mom met dad somewhere for lunch?" Lovino shrugged and headed for the living room, "I don't particularly care where Feliciano is at."

Roma headed past the living room for the kitchen, "More than likely wherever Ludwig is at!"

Lovino made a face and plopped face-down on the couch. _Why? …If it hadn't been for Cruz cheering me up, I think today would have been a complete wash-out. Why do I have to be an idiot._

"Note from your mother says she had to run out to do a few errands." Roma came into the living room, "What errands if I went to the store yesterday?" He tilted his head in confusion, watching Lovino on the couch.

"Haven't the faintest idea." Lovino's muffled voice came up from the couch, "Call her and ask."

"I'm not calling her just because I'm wondering." Roma sat in the armchair and put the footrest up, "Well today was interesting…"

Lovino let out a scoffing noise. "Interesting is one way to describe it."

Roma didn't say anything more but closed his eyes.

.

.

Alexander and Amelia both stood in the doorframe of the livingroom, staring blankly at the scene in front of them.

"We're gone for not even an hour after school has let out…" Alexander said flatly.

"…Cuuuute…" Amelia giggled.

Alexander looked between Roma, who was fast asleep in the armchair, to Lovino who was (he was assuming) fast-asleep on the couch, "How can he even breathe sleeping like that?!"

"Um…" Amelia tip-toed over to where Lovino was and leaned over him, "He is breathing though."

"Daaaaad…" Alexander shook Roma by the shoulder slightly, "Wake up…"

"Oh, let them sleep! We have an hour or so yet!" Amelia chided him before leaving the room.

Alexander made a face, "They don't want to change before we leave?" He followed his wife down the hall and towards the kitchen.

"Well it's not like tonight is anything fancy! Just a family night out! …Feliciano better get here." Amelia hung up her coat in the closet and hummed quietly.

"He probably forgot." Alexander sighed and leaned against the wall.

"EVERY MONDAY IS FAMILY NIGHT!" Amelia snapped, "How could he forget?!"

Lovino, still in the living room, lifted his head up at the yell, "Family night. Crap."

"It's Monday, Lovi." Roma said quietly, not opening his eyes, "I guess I'm not sleeping anymore."

"It's family night. Shit." Lovino rolled off the couch, "Run for the hills!" He bolted up the stairs, leaving his grandfather alone in the living room.

"I don't even have the energy for that." Roma sighed and hung his arms and head over the side of the armchair, "No energy after being at school all day…"

Alexander came back into the room after hearing the voices, "Oh you two are awake now…dad. What are you doing."

"Well I _was_ relaxing." Roma said flatly, "Until a loud voice from yonder hallway shrieks."

"Ha ha." Amelia peered into the room, "…Where'd Lovino go?"

"The dust cloud went upstairs." Roma waved his hand towards the steps before hanging limp again.

"…How is that even comfortable…" Alexander tilted his head, still staring at Roma.

"Go away, lemme sleep." Roma curled back up on the chair, pulling a pillow from the couch and putting it over his head.

"Excuse me." Alexander tugged on the pillow, "We're going out to the restaurant soon."

"Have fun…"

Alexander yanked the pillow, "You're going!"

"No energy for that." Roma sighed, making a feeble attempt to grab the pillow back, but the attempt was in vain since he didn't look up to see where it was at.

"You're pathetic." Alexander sighed.

"I am not." Roma cried, "Meany!"

"Don't call me a meany!" Alexander yelled.

.

.

Amelia peered into Lovino's bedroom, "Are you getting changed before we go out then?"

"Well it's a good thing I'm not since you just barged on in!" Lovino snapped, throwing his pillow at the open door.

"I'm your mother!" Amelia retorted, throwing the pillow back.

"And your point?!" Lovino tossed the pillow on his bed and sat down, crossing his arms across his chest while a sulking expression came on his face.

"Don't mimic your grandfather. You're going."

Lovino just stared at her blankly, "I wasn't even aware I was mimicking him."

"You're doing a perfect job of it." Amelia sighed, "By the way, do you know where Feliciano is?"

"No." Lovino flopped backwards and stared up towards the ceiling.

"He is _not_ skipping family night!" Amelia declared before disappearing from the doorway.

"If he was smart he would." Lovino muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!"

Lovino rolled his eyes and rolled back off the bed. He was debating whether or not to at least change his shirt. Probably should considering the running around from gym class earlier. Lovino leaned back to look in the mirror at the scratch marks. _At least they're not as red now._ But he sure as hell was not about to admit it was because the nurse had put something on it when Cruz dragged (literally) him there. Lovino pulled open the top drawer and shuffled through the rumpled pieces of clothing until he found a decent enough shirt to wear.

Shaking it around in front of him so it didn't look like he hadn't just tossed it in there after laundry day (which he had) instead of folding it neatly like Amelia kept getting on Feliciano's case about. Fortunately she didn't feel the need to pull open Lovino's dresser open. Probably because he at least had the sense to make sure no clothes where half-sticking out when he shut the drawers.

Tossing the other shirt behind him, he pulled on the clean one and stalked out of the bedroom, not bothering to see where the other one had landed. Leaning on the banister, Lovino could see Roma, still in the recliner, gazing up towards the ceiling. He had put the footrest down now, so apparently he had lost the argument (not that there really was a point in arguing to begin with) and was going to be going along tonight.

"Feliciano isn't answering his phone!" Amelia's voice called from the kitchen.

"Big surprise." Lovino grumbled and started down the stairs. His brother was probably avoiding the house like the plague. That or he was over at the Beilschmidt household. _I suppose I could just text Gilbert and ask him._ Then again, if Feliciano was over there, he wasn't about to make Gilbert tell his brother to come home. _It's his own damn fault for forgetting._ Not that Lovino really believed he had completely forgotten.

"Where are we going anyway?" Roma asked.

"Not wherever it was that we ate last week. That place was crowded and the service was awful!"

"Not to mention a couple of us got sick." Alexander stalked by the livingroom doorway, heading for the coat closet by the front door.

"In other words, nobody has any input and we're going to be sitting in the car for ten minutes until some frustrated person finally just picks a spot that nobody's happy with." Roma sighed, but got up out of the recliner anyway.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Alexander leaned back into the livingroom to glare at Roma, "You want to drive?!"

"Somebody won't let me." Roma sent a grin to Lovino and followed his son into the hallway.

"Go for it. You go right ahead and drive. Maybe the other two with sensitive stomachs will get sick and we can skip this." Lovino stretched both arms above his head as he followed the adults out of the house.

"Hilarious!" Amelia retorted, "Be nice you two!"

"We are being nice!" Roma exclaimed.

"Bunch of children I swear." Alexander grumbled, yanking open the driver's side door.

"See? He's being mean." Roma gestured to the driver before getting into the back, "I certainly didn't insult my dad by calling him childish. How rude!"

"I have a retort to that, but it's not polite in mixed company." Alexander said flatly.

Roma grinned and looked out the window.

"…Didn't great-grandpa die before dad was born? You wouldn't have had a chance right?" Lovino blinked in confusion as Alexander pulled out of the driveway.

"…How old do you think I am?" Roma stared at Lovino, "Just because he died before Alexander was born doesn't mean I was a teenage dad!"

"I meant he probably still would have been calling you one." Lovino turned his gaze out the window.

"How meeeeean!" Roma exclaimed.

Amelia just shook her head and banged her forehead against the window.

"You crack it, you replace it." Alexander warned, "Where are we going?"

Roma and Lovino exchanged glances and both looked up towards the roof of the car.

Amelia looked over her shoulder at their facial expressions before looking back to her husband, "You're getting twin attitudes from the back seat." Amelia said.

"Pretty sad considering the other half of the twins isn't even IN THE CAR!" Alexander snapped over his shoulder, "Would you two grow up?!"

"At least I picked a good role model instead of a crappy one." Lovino shrugged and propped his knees up on the back of the driver's seat.

"Who's a crappy role model?" Roma tilted his head.

Lovino only smiled and watched the buildings go by from his window.

"Who are you thinking of? It better not be me or your father." Amelia looked back to the backseat again.

"I was actually thinking of Cruz. Not an adult." Lovino responded.

Roma burst out laughing while Alexander and Amelia both let out long sighs.

"Here looks good." Alexander pulled into the half-empty parking lot while Lovino gave the restaurant a look of skepticism.

After climbing out, he glanced towards his dad, "What is it about a half-empty parking lot that makes you think the restaurant is good? Wouldn't it give the exact opposite of an impression?"

"He just doesn't want to wait." Roma gave Lovino a light push towards the door, "And I notice it was the driver who decided in the end, surprise!"

"We didn't sit in the car for ten minutes arguing." Amelia pointed out, following the family to the door.

"No, that was just the car ride." Lovino rolled his eyes and stood in the lobby, watching as servers ran around, "…"

"…" Roma tilted his head.

Alexander was humming quietly to himself while reading some of the posters on the wall, not facing the dining area. Amelia squinted at one of the handwritten posters on the board that had her husband's attention, "I can't even read this."

Lovino watched as a tray went flying across the dining room, "…Did you see that?" He leaned over to whisper to Roma.

"…Possibly." Roma leaned to peer around the corner and saw the dish had broken against a wall, " don't think I want to eat here today."

Before either of them could convince the other two to try somewhere else, the host appeared at the stand and beamed at the four of them.

"Four tonight?"

"Yes!" Amelia spun around and hurried over to the podium, yanking Alexander with her.

"Can we just…" Lovino motioned towards the door, but got pulled by his dad towards the table they were being led to.

"Can't we go somewhere else…" Roma whimpered.

"Oh relax. This is a nice quiet restaurant." Amelia slid into the booth and picked up the menu as it was set down in front of her.

The host wandered off towards the kitchen once more.

"Right." Lovino looked at the first couple folds of the menu before setting it back down. "Well, I suppose I can't go wrong with a slice of pizza."

"Don't be too sure." Roma commented, getting a glare from Alexander in response.

"I wonder who our waiter is…" Amelia peeked around the dining room, "I don't see anyone except customers out here."

"You'd think they would take an order for our drinks at least." Alexander sighed.

"Hello! Are you ready to order?"

Roma blinked, "A voice from…oh."

Elizaveta came screeching to a stop next to the table. For a minute, Lovino was wondering how she was going so fast, before he realized she was wearing rollerskates.

"Oh, Lovino! Hi!" Eliza smiled cheerfully at him, "I don't think I've ever seen you all in here before!"

"Didn't want to be here tonight either." Roma said flatly.

"Dad!" Alexander hissed, "Uh, just a lemonade for me."

"Water!" Amelia smiled cheerfully.

"Strawberry lemonade." Lovino said, after giving Eliza an unenthusiastic half-wave.

"Water." Roma returned the glare that his son was giving him.

"…Right." Eliza looked back and forth between the two male adults before skating away from the table.

"Would you two get along!" Amelia exclaimed.

Lovino buried his face in his hands and let out a sigh. This could not possibly end well.

.

.

"I told you." Roma sighed.

Lovino was tapping his pizza slice against the plate and finding it rather amusing (and disturbing), that the pizza was making a loud tapping sound, "Geez is this thing burnt."

"Just send it back then!" Amelia sighed, blowing on her soup since the first spoonful had earned her a burnt tongue.

Alexander stirred the pasta in his bowl, shaking his head but made no comment aloud.

"How is your food?" Eliza asked, almost skating by the table, but she grabbed the corner to force herself to stop, shaking the table slightly in the process.

"Hard as a rock." Lovino said flatly.

"Fine." Roma smiled up from his salad.

Eliza picked up Lovino's plate, "Just this one that needs re-done then?"

"I'd prefer it to not be done anymore than it is." Lovino gave her a look of disbelief, "It's already black."

"Oh don't worry about that. This pizza's not going back to the kitchen." Eliza looked towards Alexander and Amelia, "Everything good?"

"Mine's fine." Amelia looked towards Alexander, who only nodded since his mouth was full.

"Okay!" Eliza tossed the dish like a frisbee behind her and skated off, "I'll bring you a new slice in a minute!"

"…" The four of them watched the plate crack against the wall and land in a waiting trashcan.

"…I guess…they don't really care about the plates here." Amelia whispered.

Roma stabbed his salad a couple times before munching on a forkful.

"Doesn't that get expensive…?" Alexander leaned forward, staring at the trashcan.

"They take it out of the cook's paycheck." Roma commented.

"…" Lovino sank in his seat, "If I had known that, I would have just eaten the damn thing!"

Eliza came skating back out of the kitchen and set the pizza slice down in front of Lovino, "Let me know how this one is!" She flew off towards one of the other tables, leaving Lovino to stare at it.

Picking it up by the crust, Lovino tapped it against the plate a few times before setting it at the edge of the table, "You know, I'm really not all that hungry anyhow."

"Can we point out that if it's black, she shouldn't bother bringing it out?" Amelia continued stirring her soup with a sigh.

Roma glanced towards Amelia's bowl, "…What kind of soup is that again?"

"Potato." Amelia blew on another spoonful.

"…" Roma leaned over, "Well you have something not potato."

Amelia held the spoon in her mouth and looked in the bowl in confusion. Alexander leaned across the table and peered in the bowl as well. _Curiosity killed the cat._ Lovino didn't even glance over and instead peered around the booth to see if he could spot Elizaveta.

Whatever it was, Amelia quickly put her spoon down and Roma set the soupbowl next to the pizza dish.

"Okay, I'm done." Alexander pushed his bowl away, "I just lost my appetite."

Lovino looked into the bowl and spotted the problem, "…Huh. I wonder if those belong to the cook."

"Someone must be looking for their teeth." Roma continued eating his salad.

Eliza skated over once more, "No good on the pizza? You're done with your soup?" She looked back at Amelia.

"The soup has someone's teeth in it." Amelia said flatly.

"Adds protein." Eliza responded with a completely straight face.

"…I'm not all that hungry after all. You can keep your cardboard pizza." Lovino commented.

"Please tell me that was a joke." Alexander had buried his face in his hands upon hearing Eliza's comment.

"Of course it was." Eliza picked up the bowl and plate, "I'll return the cook's teeth and be back in a minute." She tossed the pizza at the trashcan and skated towards the kitchen.

"I don't need it back!" Amelia yelled.

"Did it taste minty fresh?" Roma smiled cheerfully at her, earning a glare from Alexander and Amelia.

"We are never eating here again. How can she even work here?" Amelia leaned back against the benchseat.

"It's not her fault the food is crap." Lovino watched Eliza come out of the kitchen and toss the bowl to land perfectly in the trashcan, "She has really good aim."

"Certainly does." Roma pushed his empty bowl towards the edge of the table.

Alexander leaned on the table, watching other patrons leaving while Amelia stole a couple forkfuls of pasta from his plate.

"Why did you order salad anyway?" Amelia glanced at Roma, "You never order it anywhere else!"

"It's the only food here I can order here without finding something wrong with it." Roma commented, looking out towards the other tables.

Alexander, who had been taking a sip from his cup, set it forcefully down on the table, "You've been here before?"

"If you recall, I said I'd rather eat somewhere else, and tried to warn about the pizza." Roma smiled cheerfully at Alexander, "And I asked last time about the plates being thrown at the wall."

Lovino watched Eliza skate over to the table, "Is there anything else being ordered over here?"

"Uh, no." Amelia continued eating Alexander's pasta, while Roma watched with a vague expression of amusement on his face.

"I'm fine, thanks." Lovino sipped on his drink.

"I'll bring your check out in a minute then!" Eliza disappeared again.

Alexander was silent for a minute before asking, "I'm going to regret this. But what's wrong with the pasta?"

Amelia paused and looked towards Roma in confusion.

"Depends on if there's something on the bottom or not." Roma stirred the ice around his glass with the straw, watching as Amelia stabbed the bowl several times with the fork she was holding.

"One bad experience does not set a precedent for the pasta every time you're here." Alexander sighed finally.

Amelia pulled a can label out of the bowl with her fork and stared at it blankly.

"I've eaten here more than once." Roma responded.

"At least it was just the label." Lovino took the check from Elizaveta, "Thanks."

"Thanks for stopping by!" Eliza smiled cheerfully, "I'd tell you to come back again soon, but I don't think you want to, so I'll avoid making you feel like you should out of politeness."

"…" Lovino stared at Eliza with a look of pure disbelief while she skated off again, "Well. At least she's honest."

Roma peered at the receipt out of curiosity, "Four drinks and one salad on the bill even."

"How did she know we would find something wrong with the pasta?" Amelia yanked the bill from Lovino's hand.

"I told you, I've been here before." Roma slid off the bench, "And she's been working here for some time now."

"If she knows the food is bad, then why let the customers order it?!" Alexander exclaimed, promptly heading for the parking lot.

"To watch the waiter or waitress throw the plates at the wall?" Roma tilted his head, "If they're busy, customers will just do it themselves."

"…" Amelia looked up at the sign as they left the restaurant, "Is that what it means by dinner with entertainment?"

"Don't worry about the cook's financial situation, he owns the place. He does it for fun." Roma waved his hand cheerfully and headed for the car.

"We ate at a place that's more set up to be a plate-throwing-house than a restaurant?" Alexander banged his head against the top of the car.

"You chose it." Roma sighed, yanking open the car door.

Lovino climbed into the back of the car and waited patiently while the others got in. _I don't think Feliciano missed anything._

.

.

* * *

The family nights that were threatened last year are still going on! …At least in the Vargas household. =w=


	10. What happens in first bell stays there!

Can't remember if I said this before so, you may notice the occasional day/week-timeskip. This is an effort to keep things moving along without having the repetitiveness of school days. :)

_Date is currently September 23 (about three weeks in between the last chapter and this one)_

* * *

.

.

"I want you all to keep an open mind about this…"

Cruz stared at their teacher with a look of sheer disbelief, "My open mind stayed out in the hallway when I saw the desks were all against the wall."

Lovino glanced around the room, "That is the first sentence you do not want to hear when you walk into an almost-empty classroom."

"Now then…" Mrs. Starr set up a cd player on her desk.

"…" Cruz started inching towards the door by taking small sideways steps.

The expression on Lovino's face turned to one of horror and he was half-tempted to just bolt for the door, screw being seen or caught!

Mrs. Starr turned to look at the students who were all staring back with rather wide eyes, "So today, for a change, since there is a fall dance coming up, we are going to spend a little time dancing!"

"Oh god." Lovino buried his face in his hands, "I knew it."

Mrs. Starr hustled around the classroom, pulling students here and there until everyone was standing in pairs, making sure that people would have enough to maneuver without running into each other.

"You have _got_ to be kidding." Cruz scowled.

Lovino looked around the room. Well it was a good thing that nobody else he really talked to, or cared much for their opinion, was in the room, because this was going to be damned embarrassing. "Do you even dance?" He looked at Cruz doubtfully.

"Do you?" Cruz snapped.

"Point taken." Lovino sighed.

Mrs. Starr hurried back to the cd player and started the music, pulling a student up to the front of the room who had been left without a partner, "So! Decide who is leading and…"

Lovino and Cruz exchanged glances. "Lead you to the door." Cruz motioned towards the side of the classroom.

"After you." Lovino muttered under his breath, "We can spin over that way."

"We are going to be learning a nice, calm, traditional dance. Nothing of the modern hustle-variety." Mrs. Starr assumed the lead in her pairing and looked out towards the classroom, "Assume positions!"

"…" Lovino stared at her for a moment, "Does she want us to mirror her?"

"Terrific. New rule for this class. What happens in Life Preparation _stays_ in Life Preparation." Cruz cursed under his breath, but took hold of Lovino's left hand, "I do _not_ dance."

"It's a good thing we're not starting with the hustle variety then." Lovino said with a hint of sarcasm, "I sure as hell would not be doing that crap."

"My tolerance stopped short of this." Cruz grumbled.

"Now the first part is just a simple one…two. Just like walking with a partner!" Mrs. Starr led the way for a moment before glancing around to make sure things were going smoothly.

"Like walking with a partner who's walking backwards." Lovino stated flatly.

Cruz smirked slightly and continued to follow their teacher's pattern, "Don't forget we're walking in time to music."

"Right." Lovino rolled his eyes, "Just like walking."

.

.

"Good morning."

Lovino glanced at Roderich briefly before muttering, "Hello."

"Any warning from the Life Preparation class?" Roderich tilted his head, seemingly picking up on his slightly-worse-than-usual-temperament.

"'What happens in Life Preparation stays in Life Preparation.'" Lovino quoted and continued on his way down the hallway.

"I think I'll skip today perhaps." Roderich made a face and followed him, "It was really that bad?"

"I stick with my statement and leave it at that."

Roderich paused momentarily before continued their walk towards the history classroom, "This cannot possibly bode well."

"We seem to be starting at different places on her class curriculum; I wouldn't worry too much about it. You might not even be doing the same thing."

"I certainly hope not." Roderich sighed, "I can only tolerate so much in one day."

.

.

* * *

Lovino sat with the side of his head resting on the lunch table in the cafeteria. The thought of food was turning his stomach at the moment, so he decided to just skip eating.

Cruz sat down beside him, plunking a tray down on the table, "Not hungry are you?"

"Not even the slightest." Lovino said flatly, not bothering to lift his head, "I'm ready for this damn day to be over."

"That would make it closer to class tomorrow morning." Cruz remarked, popping the top off his drink.

Lovino turned his head enough to glare at Cruz before laying it back down again, "Don't remind me. It stays in the classroom. You said that yourself."

Cruz smirked, "Yeah, yeah."

"Hello!" Elizaveta twirled over to their table and set her tray down, "I have decided to join you all since my schedule got switched around!"

"How gracious of you." Lovino said sarcastically.

Ardrich wandered over and sat beside Elizaveta, which Lovino found hilarious considering he had sat at a different table every day up until now.

Matthew appeared a few minutes later with Feliciano and they both sat down at the table. Feliciano was chattering away about something Lovino couldn't even be bothered to try paying attention to. Things had been a little… unsettled between him and Matthew since the start of the school year, and it didn't look like it was getting any better (or worse ).

Lovino sighed and sat up straighter, turning his gaze towards the right. Come to think of it, Cruz and Matthew had barely exchanged a few words in the times they sat in the cafeteria. _I guess things aren't going so well there either._ _That's just damn peachy. It's like we changed places. Matthew's closer to Antonio now, and I'm apparently stuck with Cruz!_ Of course, having almost the exact same schedule as the male sitting next to him helped with that last part.

"…so excited! This school year really seems to be better than the last few!" Feliciano continued.

_Well it's nice that someone thinks that._ Lovino glanced towards the doors and saw Roma leaning in the doorframe, talking with the principal. He briefly wondered if Mr. Smith just didn't trust them since he kept making random appearances during lunch, but maybe he was just looking for someone (or some people).

"The air at this table is stifling." Cruz muttered.

Lovino raised an eyebrow before realizing Cruz must have been referring to the completely-obvious-not-even-trying-to-hide-it-flir ting that was going back and forth between Ardrich and Elizaveta, "Yeah well. Nothing to really do about it."

"Can't they sit somewhere else…." Cruz set his bottle down and looked rather annoyed, but at least he was keeping his voice down (somewhat), "Go be nauseating somewhere else!"

"You think all flirting is nauseating?" Lovino looked at him rather amused.

"Not all of it. Just theirs." Cruz shrugged and pushed his tray to the empty spot on his right.

Lovino continued looking around the room, trying to focus on something else, "At least they're not doing a public display of affection."

"I think this counts."

"Not according to the handbook."

"Speaking of, I wonder when we're going to hear about the sneak-out-the-window-stunt."

"When a revision comes out." Lovino smiled, "And you can be sure he'll say it's dedicated to Mr. Sass!"

"He's going to pay for it if he does that." Cruz rolled his eyes, "Why the hell is that nickname sticking…"

"It suits you. At least teachers know what to expect." Lovino leaned back away from the table, stretching out his arms in front of him momentarily.

Cruz grinned, "True. But now I think they assume it's me before realizing it's someone else. I'm showing some self-restraint this year, they should be happy."

Lovino let out a short laugh, "Self-restraint in that you're not saying it to their faces?"

"And they should be happy about that." Cruz smiled.

.

.

* * *

Lovino made his way home at a slow pace, still looking at his phone in confusion. His brain had stalled out at seeing the two status updates that appeared a couple hours prior. _Roderich and Gilbert are actually dating now? How the hell did Gilbert manage that one?_ Lovino shook his head. Well, at least someone else's life was working out this year.

"I suppose I can't be that negative about it…" Lovino tilted his head, "It's not bad this year so far. At least I have someone else to talk to." Even if he had lost his own boyfriend in the process. He had someone to vent to without worrying about causing a huge unnecessary worry for him (Cruz didn't seem like he worried much about anything).

He paused by the front gate, staring towards the front door. Roma had somehow beaten him home and was talking to Alexander about something, to which it looked more like a slight disagreement more than anything else.

"Oh relax! What's the worst that could happen?" Roma waved a hand dismissively, "Things will be fine!"

"Let someone with a license drive!" Alexander argued, "Why don't you drive?"

"It's his mother's car! The insurance company knows he's driving it! I'm not driving somebody else's car!" Roma looked at him offended, "Besides, he's a safe driver! He's improved!"

_Maybe I'll just stay over here._ Lovino made a face. At least they weren't arguing about the grocery store. That was a first (and hopefully an improvement).

"How many are going?" Alexander asked, finally, giving up on trying to persuade the other adult.

"Um…including him and myself…" Roma seemed to count out names on his hand for a moment, "Five?"

"…He's comfortable driving with that many in the car?" Alexander looked at his dad doubtfully.

"Sure! He doesn't mind at all!" Roma grinned, "You worry too much!"

Lovino sighed and made his way up the sidewalk, "Home…"

"Ah, hello, Lovi!" Roma waved cheerfully, "How was school?"

Lovino looked at the two of them with a blank face, "Just. Damn. Peachy." He walked past his dad and grandfather and threw the backpack into the kitchen closet before wandering into the living room.

"…I'll leave you to that." Roma waved Alexander inside the house.

"Where are you going to?" Alexander asked in confusion.

"Hm? Just to meet a friend of mine. Relax, I'll be back later." Roma left with a wave and disappeared around the corner.

"Man of few words unless he loses his temper." Alexander shook his head in frustration and went into the house, "Lovino?"

"What?" Lovino looked over at him, exasperated, "I just sat down!"

"I was just going to ask if something happened at school." Alexander let out a long sigh.

"No. It went fine." Lovino crossed his arms and scowled at the wall.

"…" Alexander stared at him for a minute before turning and promptly started hitting his head against the doorframe.

"IT WAS FINE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Lovino flung a pillow at him, "School is just annoying!"

.

.

* * *

I think I like this layout better. Even if I'm kinda skipping around. = w =;


	11. Is everyone really gone?

:D … So to you people just favoriting and signing up for the story alerts, I'd love to have a review from you all, too :D They make me happy and give me feedback for upcoming chapters. :) Help a writer out, would you? C:

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.

.

Lovino had been cursing out the school year since it had started. He had completely blew it with Antonio, and every time he tried to apologize, either nothing came out, or the text messages stayed in the draft box on his cell phone. He couldn't even form a sentence around Matthew. This was just plain crap. Thankfully, Cruz filled the void somewhat (more than Lovino was willing to admit), and he ended up talking a lot more around Antonio's cousin than he had around him. _That's just messed up. Maybe it's because Cruz is stubborn when he sees I don't want to talk about something? I guess I have Matthew to thank for that._

Whenever he _did_ happen to find his voice around Matthew, he would have to tell him that Cruz had gotten much better at getting people to talk. And hopefully Lovino wouldn't lose his voice as soon as he was back with Antonio, if that ever happened.

That was the way Lovino _had_ been thinking, and it kept him going, encouraged him to open up more to at least one person (Cruz), because, hey, if he could talk to one person, then he could talk to Antonio. This was going to work! At least… it should have worked. Now… _I'm never going to know._

_The car was going too fast…_

Alexander just felt at a complete loss. _I thought dad said everything was going to be fine._ He couldn't even believe what he was hearing. Couldn't even _begin_ to believe it.

_It looks like he tried to step on the brakes, there were marks in the asphalt that started a distance away from the redlight…_

Amelia looked between Alexander and her two sons, who were sitting on her right. Feliciano's gaze was going between the police officers, Lovino, and even met her gaze on occasion. He looked as lost as she did. How were things at home supposed to go on like they always did?

_…He was killed as soon as the car hit him._

Lovino hated to admit it, but he had started crying as soon as he heard who had been in the car. He had already known as soon as they said there was a car accident. Why else would they be there? The only ones who weren't in the room, they had to be the ones who were involved. He couldn't even lift his head to look over at where Cruz and Antonio's parents were sitting. _THIS ISN'T FUCKING HAPPENING!_

_Another car, who had the greenlight, was already going through the intersection. His car couldn't stop before it struck their vehicle._

Cruz found himself taking the news surprisingly with a calm air. Maybe it was just because it hadn't quite sank in yet (that or his years of not showing signs of getting upset were paying off for once). Compared to the two adults on either side of him, and actually most of the people in the room (save for one of the triplets from the Beilschmidt family), he was taking it very well. _At least until I get home and lock myself in the bedroom._ Any tears would happen behind a closed (and locked) door.

Ana couldn't find the words or the strength to say anything. Something of this nature happening just seemed unreal. It couldn't have happened. Antonio never would have been going that fast, not if he could help it. He might have had a few bumpy starts, but his driving really had improved! He wasn't that… reckless.

_We tried. The ambulance crews tried. But we couldn't bring them back. The front-seat passenger and the driver were gone before we got there._

Alexander's gaze went to the floor, to the wall, to the principal's desk, anywhere. Anywhere he could look at something to force his mind out of this room. He did _not_ just lose his dad in a car accident. When they got home, Roma would be there waiting for them like always. Something like this… couldn't happen. Right?

_The three passengers in the back were taken to the hospital's emergency room as soon as we could get them there, but I'm sorry. They were too far gone._

Amelia had already soaked a handkerchief in an attempt to keep her face mostly free of tears (not that it was working), and she was determined to keep a semi-strong face to support her family. _Just keep breathing. The hard times will pass._

_We are still investigating the accident, we're trying to understand why the car was going as fast as it was. It's possible the car had a malfunction in the engine and he was trying to brake but something might have failed, we don't know. As soon as we do know, you will know._

Lovino still didn't look up. He was doubled over, face in hands, his gaze staring at the carpet between his fingers. _I'm never going to know._ Lovino felt a hesitant hand from Feliciano resting on his shoulder, just rubbing in small circles, trying to help, even though the owner of the hand was crying himself. _This is a nightmare. I just want to run out of here and not look back._

_This was a severe tragedy. And we cannot even begin to comprehend the loss all of you must be feeling. We are so sorry._

Lovino finally lifted his head enough and found his gaze meeting Cruz's. He looked like he was trying to hold it together, whether for himself or for his aunt and uncle, Lovino didn't know. He was doing a better job of it than anyone else was doing. Even Regis was crying (not that Lovino really blamed him, Gilbert's parents had known his grandfather for a long time). Lovino looked back down at the floor and just continued crying in silence.

…

…

_…but I'll never know if I could talk to him._


End file.
